Sarah-Jane Perry (l) against Amanda Sobhy. (image: Mike Pepper)
Sarah-Jane Perry (l) against Amanda Sobhy. (image: Mike Pepper)

England’s Sarah-Jane Perry silenced a sold out home crowd in Grand Central Terminal Monday night, upsetting 2016 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions finalist and world No. 6 Amanda Sobhy in a five-game, second round battle.

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 quarterfinal 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 sixty-seven 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, ” Perry said. “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 champion El Welily for a place in the semifinals after she edged past Indian Dipika Pallikal Karthik, while eight-time 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 quarterfinal 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.

“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 defense alive by beating younger brother Marwan, World No. 6, in straight games to secure his place in the semifinals 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, ” Mohamed said. “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.”

All glass court matches are streaming live on SquashTV Tuesday from 1:30pm local time. For tickets, full results and more information visit www.tocsquash.com.