Amanda Sobhy became the first player this
year to win three WSA titles in a row when she secured the Squash
Revolution National Capital Open this weekend in Washington D.C.
Sobhy had previously won the Buler
Challenge Cup in Hong Kong last month and last week won the Hampton
Squash Week event in New York.
Last week she faced tough competition
from a young group of Egyptians who are rising up the rankings and it
was no different in D.C. Sobhy faced an Egyptian in every round of the
event, firstly getting passed 14 year old Habiba Mohamed Ahmed
Alymohmed, followed by Nouran Ahmed Gohar in the quarter final, Kanzy
Emad El-Dafrawy in the semi final and Yathreb Adel in the final.
Adel was playing Sobhy in the final for a
second week in a row, having reached the Hampton Squash Week final as
well as D.C. In both events Adel had to come through qualifying. Adel
had a mirror image path to the final as Sobhy, only facing American
opponents. In qualifying she beat Corey Schafer and followed this with
wins over Kristen Lange, Olivia Blatchford and surprise semi finalist
Sabrina Sobhy. Sabrina had swiftly knocked out fifth seed Thaisa
Serafini in the first round and then stunned
second seed Heba El Torky
in the quarter final.
The 9th WSA title of her career sees
Sobhy extend her winning streak to 12 matches. Her next event is the
Carol Weymuller Open in October where hanging onto her win streak will
not be easy. The last two events have also shown the squash world to be
aware of the threat of the rising Egyptians and a younger Sobhy who is
ready to take her sister's spotlight.