Team USA to Face Egypt in Women’s World Team Championship Final

(l-r): the Ganek Family US Squash Head National Coach Ong Beng Hee, Amanda Sobhy, Olivia Fiechter, Olivia Blatchford Clyne, Sabrina Sobhy, team physio Dr. Aidan Kaye

Team USA will face defending world champions Egypt in the 2022 WSF Women’s World Team Championship final after a historic semifinal victory over England Thursday, December 15, at the Madinaty Sporting Club in Cairo, Egypt.

The U.S. made its Women’s World Teams semifinal debut against three seeds England with a line up No. 1 Amanda Sobhy, No. 2 Olivia Fiechter and No. 3 Sabrina Sobhy, and a 3-1-2 order of play.

Sabrina Sobhy maintained her perfect tournament record with her fourth 3-0 win in the tournament, dispatching world No. 49 Julianne Courtice 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 in twenty-five minutes to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead.

Amanda Sobhy followed on court against world No. 22 Jasmine Hutton. After pulling through a five-game battle in the quarterfinals against world No. 19 Hollie Naughton in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, Sobhy found herself in another close match against the English No. 1 who took the first game 12-10. Hutton saved three game balls in the second game to force a tie breaker, which Sobhy took 13-11 to level the game score. The American regained control of the match after the second game and pulled away to seal it 11-7, 11-2 in thirty-nine minutes.

Team USA rushed to celebrate with Sobhy after leaving the court as the U.S. marked its first appearance in a world teams final. The result also marks the first time the U.S. have defeated England in any senior team competition. The U.S. will face hosts and defending champions Egypt in the final after the hosts dispatched Malaysia 2-0 in the top half semifinal. The Egyptian lineup includes the top three ranked players in the world, No. 1 Nouran Gohar, No. 2 Nour El Sherbini and No. 3 Hania El Hammamy.

“Reaching Team USA’s first women’s world teams final is an incredible accomplishment for this group of players, US Squash and everyone back at the Specter Center,” said Ong Beng Hee, the Ganek Family US Squash Head National Coach. “Sabrina and Amanda stepped up today and got the job done, and Olivia was raring to go if she was needed. Tomorrow’s final is what we’ve been dreaming of for the last four years, and we need to seize the occasion and opportunity. All of the pressure is on Egypt, and we know that if we play our best squash anything is possible.”

Team USA will vie for the world title at 1pm ET Friday afternoon. Lineups and order of play will be released Friday morning. Watch the final live on www.worldsquash.tv. For more tournament coverage visit wsfwomensteams.com.