Amanda Sobhy’s run in the 2018 Allam British Open came to an end Wednesday when world No. 3 Nour El Tayeb advanced to the quarterfinals in five games in Hull, England.
In January, El Tayeb dispatched the American in the second round of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions in a swift three-game match, and what was just Sobhy’s second match on the PSA Tour since returning from a ruptured Achilles.
Wednesday’s second round match in Hull proved to be much different than their previous encounter in New York City as Sobhy demonstrated her progress since her January return.
After dropping a narrow first game 11-9, Sobhy leveled the score at 1-1 with a strong 11-6 second game performance. El Tayeb regained the lead with the third game and nearly ended the match in four, but the American world No. 21 fought off a match ball to come back and win the fourth 12-10.
In the decisive fifth game, a few errors and signature precision from the Egyptian made the difference as El Tayeb claimed the match 11-5 after forty-nine minutes.
Watch a free replay of the match on the PSA Tour’s Facebook page.
“Amanda is really hard to play and we have been playing since juniors,” said twenty-five-year-old El Tayeb. “It’s amazing how well she is coming back from injury. I’m not going to say she is back 100%, but she’s almost back so it was a hard game. I thought at 2-0 up she was going to go slower a bit but she didn’t and I was lucky to have Ali [Farag] and my coach Haitham in my corner to keep pushing me and to keep focused even when I lost the third and fourth game.”
The British Open is the final World Series event of the season before the culminating World Series Finals next month. El Tayeb, the three seed, is in search of her third World Series title of the season having already won the U.S. Open and Windy City Open. Compatriots Nour El Sherbini and Raneem El Welily stand in her way as the respective one and two seeds.
“All of the tour is very strong,” El Tayeb said. “Laura [Massaro], Amanda, Camille [Serme] and Joelle [King], not just the Egyptian players, everyone is very strong at the minute and for me to be a contender for a title is an unbelievable feeling for me and hopefully I can keep it going.”
For more British Open coverage visit psaworldtour.com. Watch all matches live on SquashTV.