England's Perry Stuns Sobhy In Tournament of Champions Upset by Nathan Clarke
photos PSA
January 16, 2107
- England's Sarah-Jane Perry, World No.11, stunned a capacity crowd
inside New York's Grand Central Terminal as she downed crowd favourite
and 2016 runner-up Amanda Sobhy in a thrilling five-game battle to
reach the last eight of the iconic J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions.
The 26-year-old from Birmingham produced one the best performances of
her career as she thwarted Sobhy's all-out attacking style to claim a
huge win that sees her into a PSA World Series tournament quarter-final
for the first time since the 2015 British Open, on a day that also saw
Egyptian World No.3 Raneem El Welily, No.2 Nouran Gohar and defending
champion Nour El Sheribi, World No.1, come through in unconvincing
fashion.
"I beat Nicol (David) in September which was huge for me and this win
today is similar to that," said Perry, who won 9-11, 14-12, 12-10,
8-11, 11-5 after 67 minutes.
"They were both big matches in amazing locations (Grand Central and the
Pyramids of Giza) against very strong opponents. You don't get to play
in better venues than those so it's great to get that win today.
"I watched her (Sobhy) here last year and saw how much she enjoyed
playing in front of a loud supportive crowd, so I just had to put that
out of my mind. I had to focus on playing my way, not going short too
much, and I stuck to my plan just enough to edge it.
"I changed coach about 14 months ago and have had some good results in
the past six months. It's all about believing in myself, approaching
the game slightly differently mentally and going on court
believing that I can compete with anyone and I know if I can stick to
my game plan, win or lose I'll be happy."
Perry will face 2015 winner El Welily for a place in the semi-finals
after she edged past Indian Dipika Pallikal Karthik while 8x World
Champion David put in a second consecutive performance of total
domination to down Annie Au 3-0 to underline her championship
credentials and set up a quarter-final encounter with El Sherbini.
David and El Sherbini met here at the same stage last year, when El
Sherbini recorded the second of five consecutive wins over David en
route to the title, but the Malaysian will likely have her best chance
yet to halt that run and install a needed confidence boost with El
Sherbini struggling to hit her stride in the event to date - having
narrowly beaten Salma Many Ibrahim in four games today.
"I'm pleased with my performance today," said David.
"You don't get to experience something like playing in Grand Central
Terminal every day and when you train so hard and work all your life,
you just want to be in venues like this competing with the best players
and enjoying it.
"I'm excited to play Nour here. I'm going to give it my all tomorrow and we'll see what happens."
In the Men's tournament World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy kept his title
defence alive by beating younger brother Marwan, World No.6, in
straight games to secure his place in the semi-finals where Frenchman
Gregory Gaultier awaits after beating Tarek Momen 3-1.
"I think people enjoy watching us but it's not fun competing against
each other and it's hard for everyone in the family," said Mohamed.
"But we have to deal with it and I'm very glad to have won today and to
be coming back here to compete in another match in this amazing
location.
"The crowd here make it very special and they show us some great support so I'm looking forward to the next round."
Draw - Bottom Half (To be played Jan 17)
James Willstrop (ENG) v [Q] Paul Coll (NZL)
[8] Simon Rösner (GER) v [2] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Results - Women’s Second Round: 2017 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [Q] Salma Hany Ibrahim (EGY) 3-1: 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 13-11 (70m)
[6] Nicol David (MAS) bt [12] Annie Au (HKG) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 (30m)
[5] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [13] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-3 (36m)
[3] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [15] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 3-2: 9-11, 11-1, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6 (56m)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [10] Joelle King (NZL) 3-2: 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3 (64m)
[8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [16] Victoria Lust (ENG) 3-1: 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-3 (44m)
[11] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-2: 9-11, 14-12, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5 (67m)
[2] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt Dipika Pallikal Karthik (IND) 3-1: 15-17, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 (44m)
Draw - Quarter-finals
[1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) v [6] Nicol David (MAS)
[5] Camille Serme (FRA) v [3] Nouran Gohar (EGY)
[4] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [8] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
[11] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [2] Raneem El Welily (EGY)
