The U.S. women’s team recorded three victories without dropping a match to finish atop Pool C at the WSF Women’s World Team Championship in Dalian, China.
Team USA, the three seeds, opened its campaign on Tuesday with a 3-0 win over eleven seeds India courtesy of Amanda Sobhy, Reeham Sedky and Olivia Blatchford.
The U.S. then pulled off a pivotal triumph against six seeds France on Wednesday to move on top of pool C.
Amanda Sobhy provided a 1-0 lead for the U.S. with her first win against world No. 5 Camille Serme since the 2014 Women’s Team Championship in four games, 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 11-8 in forty-one minutes. Olivia Blatchford then stepped up to seal the win for Team USA against world No. 35 Coline Aumard 11-4, 11-5, 12-10 in thirty minutes. Reeham Sedky provided maximum points for the U.S. by closing out the match with a five-game, sixty-two minute win against Melissa Alves.
“Today Amanda won—but it was really close and our number three was the same thing, it could have gone either way,” said Thierry Lincou, U.S. Head Coach. “I thought Amanda would have a chance today—but I knew Camille would be super-tough as she’s so consistent–last week beating Sherbini, someone she hadn’t beaten for a long time, so her confidence would be super-high. It was Amanda’s first tough test of the season—it is a good win for her confidence.”
Lincou, a former world No. 1, said it was a strange feeling to be coaching against his native France.
“It’s my job, but it was tough.” Lincou said. “When I looked at the group draw, I said ‘oh no’. It took me back a couple of months ago, during the football World Cup, when my natural instinct was to support the ‘bleu, blanc et rouge’. But my job is here in the US, and I think we’re bonding really well.”
A routine win over China closed out pool play for the U.S. on Thursday as Blatchford, Sedky and Sabrina Sobhy all produced 3-0 wins.
U.S. focus now shifts to the 1-8 playoffs September 14-16. The random draw placed the U.S. in the top half of the draw with a quarterfinal match up against five seeds Hong Kong set for Friday at 2pm local time, 2am ET. Live stream the match on wsfwomensteams.com/watch.
The U.S. will seek to avenge its 2014 women’s world teams quarterfinal loss against Hong Kong in hopes of reaching Team USA’s first ever semifinal. The victors will likely face top seeds Egypt in Saturday’s semifinals.
For more tournament coverage visit wsfwomensteams.com.
