Sobhy Stuns Defending Champion El Welily In Tournament of Champions
Upset by Nathan Clarke
photos squashpics.com
January
10, 2015
- Team USA's 2015 triple-PanAm Games Gold medal winning hero Amanda
Sobhy pulled off the biggest win of her career, and arguably one of the
most significant triumphs in the history of US Squash, as she
eliminated defending champion and World No.2 Raneem El Welily in the
second round of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - the
prestigious PSA World Series tournament currently taking place in her
home city of New York.
In the stunning setting of Grand
Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall the recent Harvard graduate, who
only transitioned to life as a full time pro last summer after
completing a degree in Social Anthropology, played with devastating
attacking precision as she reeled off winner after winner to complete a
3-1 victory in 40 minutes and send the capacity crowd into raptures.
“I’m
a little shocked to be honest because the last three times we’ve played
it has not gone well for me at all and to get the win today was way
above what I expected,” said Sobhy.
“I knew I had nothing to
lose against her and I couldn’t have done any worse than the last time
we played in Hong Kong (when Sobhy lost 3-0 in 22 minutes) so I just
went out there and tried to stick to the game plan. I had to go out of
my comfort zone and mix up the pace to get her on the back foot and I’m
very, very pleased that it paid off.
“It’s definitely one
of, if not the single, biggest wins of my career. She’s a phenomenal
player, she won here last year and she’s been World No.1 but I felt
relaxed and knew I had my coach, my friends and the crowd behind me so
I was excited to go in there and do my best.”
El Welily, who
held the World No.1 mantle from September to December, was a hot
favourite to retain the title she won in convincing fashion twelve
months ago but it was Sobhy, playing without fear, who wrote her name
into TOC folklore. After taking the opening game 11-5 she pressed on
the front foot throughout the encounter, and despite dropping the
second, looked every bit the genuine title contender her current career
high ranking of No.8 suggests.
“I was nervous when we played
here last year, which was the only time I took a game off her, but I
wasn’t nervous tonight,” added the 22-year-old who currently trains in
Boston under the guidance of former Men’s World No.1 and World Champion
Thierry Lincou.
“Thierry has made a huge difference to my
game. I started working with him when I was a junior and his experience
and knowledge has been amazing and both he and my other coach, Shahid
Zaman, have really helped me push on.
“Hopefully I can back it up now in the quarters on Tuesday.”
Sobhy
will face Alison Waters in the last eight after she recorded a
comfortable 3-0 victory over Delia Arnold while fellow Englishwoman
Laura Massaro, the current World No.1, was forced to call on all her
mental strength to come through a difficult second round match with
Frenchwoman Coline Aumard during which she struggled to find her best
form.
Massaro looked on course to seal a straightforward
victory after she dominated the first game, taking it 11-3, but found
herself embroiled in a tense battle from there on in and had to use her
big match experience to save game ball in the fourth and progress after
a hard-earned 3-1 win.
“I didn’t feel at my best on court but I’m very happy to come through
because winning is the important aspect,” said Massaro.
“I’m
relieved and honestly just happy to still be in tournament. I have a
rest day now to work on the things and come back better in next match
because I know I need to raise my level.”
In the men’s draw
hard-hitting German Simon Rösner pulled off one of the most impressive
wins of his career to defeat 2010 champion James Willstrop and book a
quarter-final beth against crowd favourite Gregory Gaultier, the
current World Champion.
Rösner and Willstrop treated the
capacity crowd to an 80-minute thriller which came to a crescendo
during a fourth game that saw the German squander four match balls
before saving three game balls to finally to secure the win 9-11, 11-4,
11-3, 16-14.
“To beat James, in the form he has been in
recently, on this stage is one of the most significant wins of my
career in recent years and especially so as I struggled a bit at the
end of last year,” said Rösner.
“I had a few tough defeats
at the end of 2015 and was maybe losing a little bit of confidence so
to be moving well on court again and winning a big match like this is
very important for me. I’m really happy that I managed to close it out
in the end and move into the quarter-finals here.”
Results:
J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Men’s Second Round
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt Fares Dessouki (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-9,
11-2 (62m)
[6] Simon Rösner (GER) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 3-1: 9-11, 11-4, 11-3,
16-14 (80m)
[8] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 3-1: 12-10, 12-14,
11-9, 12-10 (78m)
[2] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-3
(48m)
Draw:
J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Men’s Quarter-finals
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v [5] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
[7] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v Borja Golan (ESP)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v [6] Simon Rösner (GER)
[8] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v [2] Nick Matthew (ENG)
Results
- J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Women’s Second Round (Top Half)
[10] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) 3-1: 11-5, 6-11,
11-5, 11-6 (41m)
[6] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [14] Delia Arnold (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8,
11-6 (29m)
[8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt Heba El Torky (EGY) 3-1: 7-11, 11-7, 11-2,
11-5 (41m)
[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [Q] Coline Aumard (FRA) 3-1: 11-3, 8-11,
11-2, 12-10 (51m)
Draw
- J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - Women’s Second Round (Bottom
Half)
[4] Camille Serme (FRA) v [16] Emily Whitlock (ENG)
[Q] Mariam Metwally (EGY) v [7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
[5] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) v [15] Joshna Chinappa (IND)
[9] Annie Au (HKG) v [2] Nicol David (MAS)
The
2016 Men’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, PSA World Series
tournament, takes place in New York’s iconic Grand Central Terminal
from Jan 7 - 14, with the 2016 Women’s tournament taking place from Jan
9 - 14.
Ticket prices range from $8 for early round
matches, going up to $170 for the sought-after Men’s and Women’s Finals
on the evening of Thursday, January 14th. Tickets are available online
at ToCSquash.com or by calling (718) 569-0594.
