Team USA’s Amanda Sobhy will face Egypt’s world No. 1 in the DPD Open quarterfinals Friday, April 12, following two opening victories at the DPD Hub in Eindhoven, Holland.
Sobhy, world No. 12, opened her tournament with a four-game win on Tuesday against Cornell graduate Danielle Letourneau. Sobhy moved on to the all glass show court inside the DPD Hub for her second round match on Wednesday against England’s seven seed Alison Waters.
The American would go on to decisively defeat the world No. 10, 11-4, 11-6, 11-3 in twenty-four minutes.
“She’s tough,” said 25-year-old Sobhy. “We haven’t played in a while. I knew what to expect, we’re right there in the rankings, so I saw this as a good opportunity, but she’s a fighter – she’s not been in the top ten for so long for nothing. I was just really pleased with how my length was and that’s kind of the key. I prefer the glass court, so knowing I was going to be on here put me a bit more at ease. I think Thierry [Lincou] would be really happy with my length game, we practice that a lot.”
Sobhy will return to the glass court on Friday, April 12, where she will take on Egypt’s world No. 1 Raneem El Welily at 2pm local time, 8am EDT. El Welily has come out on top in all three of their previous PSA World Tour encounters, the latest of which came in the 2017 Windy City Open quarterfinals. Watch the match on PSA World Tour Facebook Live or SquashTV.
“I feel like I’m back at my best, if not stronger,” Sobhy said. “The thing about being out for so long is that you kind of get a clean slate to start over, so whatever weaknesses I had before I was able to turn them into strengths and it’s nice to see it all coming together. It’s taken a while, I’m a bit of an impatient person, but good things take time and it’s nice to see them paying off.”
Olivia Blatchford Clyne didn’t enjoy first-round success like her U.S. teammate, falling in a tough five-game opening loss against former world No. 1 Rachael Grinham, 8-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 6-11.
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