Newly-crowned world No. 1 Raneem El Welily ended Amanda Sobhy’s run in the $58, 000 PSA Stars on the Bund China Open semifinals Saturday in Shanghai, China.
El Welily, who became the first Egyptian women’s world No. 1 in dethroning Nicol David this month, held off the twenty-two-year-old American 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 in twenty-five minutes on the outdoor glass court.
El Welily now contests Sunday’s final against Egyptian world junior champion Nouran Gohar, who upset top-seeded Nicol David in the quarterfinals and French world No. 3 Camille Serme in the semifinals.
Sobhy’s tournament ends with the American world No. 19 having upset world No. 12 Delia Arnold in the first round, and world No. 11 Emma Beddoes in the quarterfinals.
The Harvard graduate now returns stateside where she is the top seed in the NetSuite Open in San Francisco, September 25, before heading to Philadelphia for the first world series tournament of the season—the Delaware Investments U.S. Open at Drexel University, October 8-17.
Well that was a short lived time on the glass. Raneem too good plus I need to get used to playing in extreme humidity #cantbreathe
— Amanda Sobhy (@itssobhytime) September 5, 2015
