The U.S. Women’s National Team will vie for the title of world champion for the second time in program history after Team USA defeated Malaysia 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2024 WSF World Team Championships Friday, December 13, at the Hong Kong Football Club.
The semifinal match up proved to be Team USA’s biggest test of the tournament so far as Amanda Sobhy and Olivia Weaver prevailed in two hard-fought, five-game matches.
Sobhy opened proceedings against world No. 17 Rachel Arnold, who defeated Sobhy in the season-opening Egyptian Open in August, which marked Sobhy’s first professional tournament since returning from a ruptured achilles.
In an indication of the rise of Sobhy’s game since her return, the American came back from losing positions in several games to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8 in forty-five minutes.
“I’m just so proud of myself. I just didn’t want to lose and leave the team 1-0 down. Playing for a team just makes you dig so much deeper than you think. I’m happy to get the win for my teammates,” Sobhy said.
Olivia Weaver, world No. 4, followed on court in what was her first tournament appearance since sustaining back injury in the semifinals of the Hong Kong Open last week. Weaver was pitted against No. 1 Sivasangari Subramaniam, who entered her third match of the season against Weaver with a career high ranking of world No. 10.
Team USA will face Egypt for a second consecutive Women’s World Team Championship final after the defending champions defeated Belgium 2-0 in the top half semifinal. Support Team USA and watch the final live from Hong Kong Sunday, December 15, at 4:30am ET on worldsquash.tv.
The Malaysian earned a 2-0 lead utilizing her precise shotmaking to put Weaver under pressure early on. The American responded after the second game by pulling off the comeback win 11-5, 11-2, 11-2 in forty-seven minutes.
“Siva honestly came out and was playing some unbelievable squash,” Weaver said. “I was just trying to weather the storm. We have played a lot on tour before, so I know exactly what she is capable of. Even though the first two games didn’t go my way, I knew that if I stayed positive and kept trying to find my targets on this court, which is so punishing, I could come back into the match. I think I also started to move better as the match went on, which certainly helped. I’m just so proud to get the win for my team. I don’t normally have this kind of support when playing on the PSA Tour, so I’m really grateful to have had Team USA out here cheering so loudly for me.”
The U.S. Men continued their play in the Men’s World Team Championship 13-16 draw, and recorded a 2-0 victory over Czechia with wins from Spencer Lovejoy and Nicholas Spizzirri. The U.S. men will close out their tournament competing against Pakistan for a thirteenth place finish.
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