World No. 6 Amanda Sobhy is through to the Guggenheim Partners & Equitrust Windy City Open quarterfinals after defeating U.S. teammate Olivia Blatchford in the second round Sunday afternoon at the University Club of Chicago.
In their first PSA Tour match up since 2011, the two Americans split the first two games with Sobhy taking the opener 11-7, but Blatchford recovering to win an entertaining second game 14-12.
Sobhy edged out a close third game 12-10, before closing out the forty-one-minute match 11-3 in the fourth.
Sobhy has defeated Blatchford in both the 2015 and 2016 U.S. championship finals and now boasts a 10-0 record over her fellow US Squash Elite Althlete Program athlete.
“It was difficult mentally out there—I tried to be relaxed going into it but I don’t think that worked,” said Sobhy.
“I got a bit edgy when things were getting close. She played well in the big points and I was really bummed to lose the second game—and would have been really annoyed to have lost the third.”
The match marked the first time in the modern softball era where two American women faced off in the second round of a World Series event.
“But I enjoyed the match. She’s really been improving and it’s great to have two U.S. players at this stage of a major event. It shows that we can produce the talent—we’re training hard and working hard and we all want to do well so hopefully we will see more of it in the future.
“I finally felt like I relaxed in the fourth and hopefully I can play the whole match tomorrow like that because there’s no pressure on me.”
Sobhy will now take on Egypt’s world No. 3 Raneem El Welily in Monday’s quarterfinals at 5pm local time, 6pm ET.
The Egyptian three seed holds an 8-1 all-time record against the twenty-three-year-old American, including their only match up this season in the Al-Ahram International quarterfinals.
For tickets and more information visit www.windycityopen.com.