Team USA’s Amanda Sobhy will face world No. 1 Nouran Gohar in a second consecutive semifinal appearance at the CIB Egyptian Open after defeating Wales’ world No. 18 Tesni Evans at one of the sport’s most iconic locations next to the Pyramids Thursday, September 22, in Cairo.
After avenging her recent loss against Nour El Tayeb in Houston in the third round Wednesday, Sobhy moved from Club S to the glass court set up next to the pyramids where she met Evans. The world No. 4 put together a resounding three game performance to move onto the semifinals 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 in thirty-nine minutes.
“It was a total contrast from yesterday on the normal courts, where Nour and I were on at noon and we both play fast-paced attacking squash, and here I feel like Tesni was trying to lull me into sleep a little bit, she slowed the pace down a ton,” Sobhy said. “I think my good form is because I’m actually enjoying my game. I’m thinking a lot more on court about how I want to play and court awareness. [Coach Wael El Hindi] has brought a lot of layers to my game, which after doing this for so many years is refreshing to hear and has made me really excited.”
Sobhy’s biggest test so far will be against world No. 1 and top seed Nouran Gohar Saturday in a rematch of the 2021 Egyptian Open semifinals, which the Egyptian won in three games. Sobhy has lost her last seven encounters against Gohar since 2020. Watch the Egyptian Open semifinals live from 6:30pm local time, 12:30pm ET, on SquashTV.
Sobhy’s U.S. teammate Olivia Fiechter made her debut by the pyramids–and her third career Platinum quarterfinal appearance–in Friday’s slate of matches, but fell against three seed Hania El Hammamy in four games. The American pulled off a comeback in the second game, firing off five straight points from 9-6 down to take the game, but the Egyptian maintained her control of the match to see it through in fifty-three minutes.