National Capitol Recap, 3 Straight for Sobhy by Elliot Selby August 19, 2013
- Amanda Sobhy became the first player this year to win three WSA
titles in a row when she secured the Squash Revolution National Capital
Open this weekend in Washington D.C.
Sobhy had previously
won the Buler Challenge Cup in Hong Kong last month and last week won
the Hampton Squash Week event in New York.
Last week she faced
tough competition from a young group of Egyptians who are rising up the
rankings and it was no different in D.C. Sobhy faced an Egyptian in
every round of the event, firstly getting passed 14 year old Habiba
Mohamed Ahmed Alymohmed, followed by Nouran Ahmed Gohar in the quarter
final, Kanzy Emad El-Dafrawy in the semi final and Yathreb Adel in the
final.
Adel was playing Sobhy
in the final for a second week in a row, having reached the Hampton
Squash Week final as well as D.C. In both events Adel had to come
through qualifying. Adel had a mirror image path to the final as Sobhy,
only facing American opponents. In qualifying she beat Corey Schafer
and followed this with wins over Kristen Lange, Olivia Blatchford and
surprise semi finalist Sabrina Sobhy. Sabrina had swiftly knocked out
fifth seed Thaisa Serafini in the first round and then stunned second
seed Heba El Torky in the quarter final.
The 9th WSA title of
her career sees Sobhy extend her winning streak to 12 matches. Her next
event is the Carol Weymuller Open in October where hanging onto her win
streak will not be easy. The last two events have also shown the squash
world to be aware of the threat of the rising Egyptians and a younger
Sobhy who is ready to take her sister's spotlight.
