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The women of Team USA were first on court this morning, July 15, against Guatemala for their second match in the Group A Pool Play in the Pan American Games team squash competition.
Amanda Sobhy—after last night’s win with partner Natalie Grainger in the women’s doubles finals, has two gold medals to her name—bested Guatemala’s Winifer Bonilla in rapid succession 11-0, 11-2, 11-2, lasting just under fifteen minutes. This marked the pair’s first meeting on the professional tour, and the quickest match thus far for Sobhy (including individuals and doubles) in the Pan Ams.
Grainger followed Sobhy’s performance with a 3-0 win of her own. In their debut match-up, Grainger, the former world No. 1, met the twenty-three-year-old Guatemalan Irene Barillas. Grainger bested her opposition 11-1, 11-5, 11-5 in thirteen minutes.
Olivia Blatchford, American world No. 38 and silver individual medalist, sealed her team’s cruise to victory with the final match against Guatemala’s Pamela Anckermann. Blatchford went 3-0 against her Guatemalan opposition, winning 11-3, 11-4, 11-3.
The American women will be back on court later this evening at 5:30pm to play Mexico.
Just two hours later, the men of Team USA were also victorious over Guatemala.
In a rematch of their Round of Sixteen individuals contest, Queens-native and world No. 60 Chris Gordon opened the men’s competition against Guatemala’s world No. 150 Josue Enriquez. Over the weekend during the individuals portion of the Pan Ams, Gordon dropped the first game to Enriquez; this time, Gordon controlled the match, winning 3-0, 11-3, 11-5, 11-1, in twenty-two minutes.
In his Pam Am singles debut, Chris Hanson, world No. 91 and Dartmouth-graduate, followed his teammate with a quick win against Guatemala’s world No. 417 Bryan Bonilla. Hanson took only sixteen minutes to best his opponent 11-3, 11-1, 11-2.
Todd Harrity, 2015 U.S. national champion and world No. 73, dropped the first game 8-11 to Guatemala’s world No. 246 Mauricio Sedano, but rebounded to capture the remaining three games 11-6, 11-5, 11-3.
The men will be back on court this evening at 7:45pm for their match against Chile.
Follow updates @TeamUSASquash on Twitter and the Team USA Pan American Games page.
For all results and the full schedule, visit the official 2015 Pan American Games Squash page.
