Second Title For Blatchford After Liberty Bell Win
Liberty
Bell Open in
Philadelphia, USA
Second Title For Blatchford After Liberty Bell Win
Olivia Blatchford won
her second WSA World Tour title after fighting back from a two-game
deficit to claim the WSA Tour 5 Liberty Bell Open in
Philadelphia, USA.
Blatchford was two games down against tournament surprise package Sabrina
Sobhy in the final of the event, before a remarkable comeback saw
the world No.64 defeat her younger teenage opponent.
The 19-year-old made a strong start to the competition, beating Karen
Kronemeyer in the quarter-finals after claiming a walkover in round
one. She then defeated Georgina Stoker from England in a narrow
three-game contest to set up a final against Sobhy, whose older sister
Amanda defeated Blatchford in the 2010 final.
Sobhy also received a walkover in the first round of the event, before
seeing off the challenge of Cecilia Cortesin straight games. She
then faced last year’s surprise winner of the Liberty Bell Open,
returning champion Maria Toor Pakay, seeded first for the event.
Pakay stunned onlookers last year by defeating the sixth, first, second
and third seeds on her way to claiming the title.
Seeded first this year, Pakay led against Sobhy after the first game,
but the young American fought back to claim the second game and narrowly
lost out in the third-game tiebreak. She then claimed the next two game
against the fatigued Pakistani player and progressed through to her
first WSA World Tour final.
Spurred on by her upset in the semi-final, the world No.80 raced off to
a commanding lead in the final, with Blatchford unable to register much
of a consistent threat. A reverse in fortunes however, and some
tactical reshaping saw the older player make an impressive comeback
against the 16-year-old and Blatchford was able to claim the win in five
games, to claim a long overdue second title.
This is the 19-year-old from Brooklyn’s first title since winning the
SRC Open in Southport in May 2010.
