Team USA’s Amanda Sobhy is through to the second round of the 2018 Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family and EquiTrust courtesy of a three-game victory Friday at the University Club of Chicago.
Sobhy, former world No. 6, is continuing her return to the PSA Tour following a ten-month injury hiatus with her third tournament of 2018 in Chicago.
The Harvard graduate put on a clinical performance in her opening match against England’s world No. 16 Victoria Lust, recording an 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 victory in twenty-nine minutes.
“I feel really good,” Sobhy said. “Considering five weeks ago I was playing ToC and that was my first tournament back and each week I feel like I’m getting better and stronger at tournaments.”
Sobhy’s is currently ranked world No. 30, but a pinned ranking saw the American enter the main draw as the twelve seed.
“Coming into this I knew I would be facing Lusty and she is a really good player,” Sobhy said. “She took Laura to five at ToC and she’s playing good squash, but I wanted this to be a good test to see where I’m at after a month of coming back and a tough first round is a good thing to see where I’m at.”
Sobhy will face Egypt’s world No. 6 Nouran Gohar in the second round Sunday after the twenty-year-old needed four games to get past fellow Egyptian Salma Hany.
“The last time we played was a year ago before her [Amanda Sobhy] injury,” Gohar said. “We didn’t play that much we have only played two or three times before and it was in the final of Hong Kong so it’s funny that we are now playing in the second round here, but that’s the seeding and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Watch the second round match between Sobhy and Gohar live on SquashTV Sunday, February 25, at 12pm noon local time, 1pm EST.
The men’s draw saw Hong Kong’s qualifier Max Lee record an upset over Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar. The world No. 29 has endured injuries over the past few seasons, which saw Lee drop from world No. 12 to world No. 30. Lee showed no signs of injury in his victory over the world No. 9, however, winning 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 in thirty-one minutes.
“Today I think I played very well and I’m very, very happy to win,” Lee said. “He’s a very good player and is still young—I just tried my best in every point. I had a few lucky bounces at times and the conditions maybe suited me better and he made a lot of errors which helped me. I’ve been suffering a lot with cramp over the past couple of seasons so it’s good to be winning matches again. I played a few events before coming here and I feel like I have some momentum behind me now and that my game is coming back, so it’s good.”
Watch all glass court action live on SquashTV, February 22-28. For tickets and more tournament coverage visit www.windycityopen.com.
