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England’s Laura Massaro, U.S. Open champion in 2011, ended home hopes in the 2015 Delaware Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships round of sixteen Tuesday as she beat U.S. number one Amanda Sobhy in four games.
Massaro, the fifth seed, stayed just ahead through a well-contested first game, taking it 11-8, but Sobhy, digging the ball out of the back corners to good effect, grabbed an early lead in the second and stayed ahead to level 11-7.
With some typically determined play, though, Massaro was quickly out of the blocks in the third, building on a 3-0 start to retake the lead 11-4. The Englishwoman continued to dictate the play in the fourth, fending off attempted comebacks from Sobhy—from 3-7 to 6-7 and from 7-10 to 9-10—to take the match 11-9 on a drive that dribbled out of the front wall.
“As soon as the draw came out I knew that this could be a really tough match for a second round, ” said Massaro. “So I’m really happy to win that one, and happy that my attention to detail in the game plan paid off.
“It felt like Amanda was attacking the whole match and I was having to react—I needed to adapt the plan as the match went on but thankfully that worked out.”
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