Team USA’s Amanda Sobhy upset world No. 3 Camille Serme in a five game tussle to reach her second consecutive Black Ball Open semifinal Tuesday, March 16, in Cairo, Egypt.
Sobhy, world No. 7, and Serme showcased an enthralling five-game quarterfinal, which included a third game climax where Sobhy saved eight game balls to take the game 15-13.
Serme responded by edging the fourth game 11-9. In the decisive fifth game, Sobhy’s shot-making sent her through to the semifinals 11-7 after sixty-six minutes.
🗣 “Mentally and physically I’m in a good place, so I was really excited to go out there and show what I’m capable of.”
We caught up with a very happy @itssobhytime after her EPIC @BlackBallSquash battle with @CamilleSerme 😄#BlackBallOpen pic.twitter.com/Kj8oXnnL14
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 16, 2021
“I’ve been training really hard and mentally and physically I’m in a good place, so I was actually really excited to go out there and show what I am capable of,” Sobhy said. “I have a pretty bad record versus Camille, she’s got me on the physical part, but I’ve been working really hard on it and I knew I could hang in there this time. If I was going to lose, I knew it was going to be because she beat me playing better, I didn’t want to lose because I was tired. She played some really good points at the end but I’m so glad I snuck it, it was an awesome match.”
The result marks Sobhy’s third career PSA victory over Serme in her twelfth attempt, and sends her into a seventh career PSA Platinum semifinal. It’s also the twenty-seven-year-old’s second straight semifinal appearance at the Black Ball Open, which she recently achieved in the Gold edition of the tournament in December.
Sobhy’s semifinal opponent will be Egypt’s world No. 10 Salma Hany, who ended Olivia Blatchford Clyne’s run in three games.
Watch the semifinals live on SquashTV at 8pm local time, 2pm EDT.