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Sunday 10th Jan, Round Two:
Men's Bottom Half:
[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 Fares Dessouki (Egy)
11-5, 11-9, 11-2 (62m
[6] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-1 James Willstrop (Eng)
9-11, 11-4, 11-3, 16-14 (79m)
[8] Marwan Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-1 Ryan Cuskelly (Aus)
12-10, 12-14, 11-9, 12-10 (78m)
[2] Nick Matthew (Eng) 3-0 Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy)
11-8, 11-9, 11-3 (48m)
Women's Top Half:
Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 3-1 [1] Raneem El Welily (Egy)
11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6 (41m)
[6] Alison Waters (Eng) 2-0 Delia Arnold (Mas)
11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (29m)
[8] Nouran Gohar (Egy) 3-1 Heba El Torky (Egy)
7-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-5 (41m)
[3] Laura Massaro (Eng) 3-1 [Q] Coline Aumard (Fra)
11-3, 8-11, 11-2, 12-10 (51m)
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Photo Gallery
Draws & Results |
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Sobhy Stuns Defending Champion El Welily
 Team
USA's 2015 triple-Pan Am Games Gold medal-winning hero Amanda
Sobhy pulled off the biggest win of her career, and arguably one
of the most significant triumphs in the history of US Squash, as she
eliminated defending champion and World #2 Raneem El Welily in the
second round of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions - the World
Series tournament taking place in her home city of New York.
El Welily, who held the World '#1 mantle from September to December,
was a hot favourite to retain the title she won in convincing
fashion twelve months ago. Sobhy, who only transitioned to life as a
full time pro last summer after completing a degree in Social
Anthropology at Harvard, was 0-6 against the Egyptian going into the
match. Undaunted, the two-time US national champion played fearless
squash under the majestic chandeliers of Grand Central Terminal’s
Vanderbilt Hall, and in front of a capacity crowd that was decidedly
in her favour.
“I’m a little shocked to be honest because the last three times
we’ve played it has not gone well for me at all and to get the win
today was way above what I expected,” said Sobhy, who came into
the tournament ranked no. 8 in the world, her highest to date.
“I knew I had nothing to lose against her, and I couldn’t have done
any worse than the last time we played in Hong Kong (when Sobhy lost
3-0 in 22 minutes) so I just went out there and tried to stick to
the game plan. I had to go out of my comfort zone and mix up the
pace to get her on the back foot and I’m very, very pleased that it
paid off."
“It’s definitely one of, if not the single, biggest wins of my
career. She’s a phenomenal player, she won here last year and she’s
been World No.1. I felt relaxed and knew I had my coach, my friends
and the crowd behind me so I was excited to go in there and do my
best.”
Sobhy jumped out quickly to win the first game, and despite losing
the second, dominated the rest of the match, using her strength to
consistently hit the ball into the back corners to take away El
Welily's trademark shotmaking game. The Long Island native also
attacked every loose ball to complete a 3-1 victory in 40 minutes
and send the New York crowd into raptures.
“I was nervous when we played here last year, which was the only
time I took a game off her, but I wasn’t nervous tonight,” added the
22-year-old who currently trains in Boston under the guidance of
former Men’s World No.1 and World Champion Thierry Lincou. “Thierry
has made a huge difference to my game. I started working with him
when I was a junior and his experience and knowledge has been
amazing. Both he and my other coach, Shahid Zaman, have really
helped me raise the level of my game."
 Sobhy will face Alison Waters in the last eight after she
recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over Delia Arnold. Englishwoman
Laura Massaro, the current World #1, was forced to call on all
her mental strength to come through a difficult second round match
with Frenchwoman Coline Aumard during which Massaro struggled to
find her best form.
Massaro looked on course to seal a straightforward victory after she
dominated the first game, taking it 11-3, but found herself
embroiled in a tense battle from there on in. The 2014 World
Champion had to use her big match experience to save game ball in
the fourth and progress after a hard-earned 3-1 win.
“I didn’t feel at my best on court but I’m very happy to come
through because winning is the important aspect,” said Massaro. “I’m
relieved and honestly just happy to still be in tournament. I have a
rest day now to work on the things and come back better in my next
match because I know I need to raise my level of play.”
 In the men’s draw hard-hitting German Simon Rösner pulled off
one of the most impressive wins of his career to defeat 2010
champion James Willstrop, booking a quarter-final berth against
crowd favorite Gregory Gaultier, the current World Champion.
Rösner and Willstrop treated the capacity crowd to an 80-minute
thriller which came to a crescendo during a fourth game that saw the
German squander four match balls before saving three game balls to
finally to secure the win 9-11, 11-4, 11-3, 16-14.
“To beat James, in the form he has been in recently, and on this
stage, is one of the most significant wins of my career in recent
years and especially so as I struggled a bit at the end of last
year,” said Rösner.
“I had a few tough defeats at the end of 2015 and was maybe losing a
little bit of confidence. To be moving well on court again and
winning a big match like this is very important for me. I’m really
happy that I managed to close it out in the end and move into the
quarter-finals here.”
The quarter-final lineup was completed as Nick Matthew an
Marwan Elshorbagy beat Karim Abdel Gawad an Ryan Cuskelly.
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Sat 9th Jan, Men's Round Two
(top)
and Women's Round One
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) 3-0 Cameron Pilley (Aus)
11-5 , 11-9, 11-9 (46m)
[5] Omar Mosaad (Egy) 3-1 Nicolas Mueller (Sui)
11-5, 11-4, 12-14, 11-7 (73m)
[7] Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 3-2 Max Lee (Hkg)
10-12, 11-8, 10-12, 11-2, 11-4 (72m)
Borja Golan (Esp) 3-2 Leo Au (Hkg)
11-6, 11-5, 11-13, 4-11, 11-4 (80m)
[1] Raneem El Welily (Egy) 3-0 [Q] Tesni Evans (Wal)
11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (30m)
[3] Laura Massaro (Eng) 3-1 [Q] Olivia Blatchford (Usa)
11-6, 11-3, 5-11, 11-7 (38m)
[10] Amanda Sobhy (Usa) 3-0 [Q] Deon Saffery (Wal)
11-5, 11-4, 11-9 (25m)
[2] Nicol David (Mas) 3-0 Victoria Lust (Eng)
11-2, 11-3, 11-2 (24m)
Plus 12 afternoon women's matches at NY Clubs
Annie Au 3/0,
Delia Arnold 3/1, Nouran Gohar 3/0, Alison Waters 3-1, Joshna Chinappa 3/1, Heba El
Torky 3/1,Omneya Abdel Kawy 3/2, Nour El Sherbini 3/0, Coline
Aumard 3/0, Camille Serme 3/0, Emily Whitlock 3/0,
Mariam Metwally 3/0 |
Photo Gallery
Draws & Results |
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Favourites on form in NY
On the opening day of Women’s action at the 2016 J.P. Morgan
Tournament of Champions, which for the first time in tournament
history is offering equal prize money in the Men’s and
Women’s draws, title favourites Nicol David, Laura Massaro
and Raneem El Welily, the defending champion, signalled their
intentions to triumph on the sport’s grandest stage with a trio of
dominant first round performances.
 After a number of disappointing results during the second half of
2015 recently deposed No.1 El Welily, for whom victory here 12
months ago laid the foundations for her surge towards the top spot,
hinted at a timely return to form as she breezed past Tesni Evans.
The victory sees her move closer to a potential semi-final encounter
with in-form Massaro, who took out home hope Olivia Blatchford in
four games.
“I’m really happy to be back here in New York,” said El Welily,
“it’s a great crowd, great venue and great atmosphere to play in and
I’m happy with how I played today.
“I was trying hard to make sure I moved up the court and increased
the pace and I’m glad that it worked. It’s a good start and
hopefully I can keep it going.”
 El Welily next meets home favourite Amanda Sobhy, who also
eased past a Welsh qualifier - Deon Saffery - in the other women's
match to be played out on the glass court.
David, who at World No.3 is at her lowest ranking in ten years,
returned to form in December with a decisive victory at the 2015
Hong Kong Open and she picked up from where she left off prior to
the Christmas break with a destructive victory over England’s
Victoria Lust, dropping just seven points throughout the 25 minute
match.
 “It’s great to be back here in New York in what is one of the
most amazing places in the world to play squash,” said David.
“There’s no better way than to start the year here, especially now
that this tournament has taken a huge step and is offering parity in
prize money between men and women for the first time ever. Hopefully
I can continue to play well this week.”
While the top seeds moved through unscathed there were surprise
victories for qualifiers Mariam Metwally and Coline Aumard
who took out established World Series performers Dipika Pallikal
and Sarah-Jane Perry.
Metwally now meets compatriot Nour El Sherbini in a lst
sixteen featuring six Egyptians, while Aumard takes on Massaro.
 In the Men’s draw 2015 winner Mohamed Elshorbagy came through
a difficult second round encounter with a resurgent Cameron Pilley.
Elshorbagy beat Pilley less that a month ago to take the Hong Kong
Open title and once again consigned the dogged Australian to defeat
as he played at an intense pace to out gun the 33-year-old in an
exhibition of ferocious hitting.
“Cameron has been playing really well lately so I knew it would
be difficult tonight and I’m really pleased that we managed to play
a high quality match in front of this amazing crowd here in this
amazing place because that always makes it even more special,” said
Elshorbagy.
“I felt good throughout the week in Hong Kong and came here wanting
to defend my title. I started 2015 in the best way possible by
winning here and I’ll be giving everything I have this week in order
to do the same thing at the start of 2016.”
 Elshorbagy now faces in-form compatriot Omar Mosaad in the
quarter-finals after the fifth seed beat Nicols Mueller in four
tough games.
The day's other men's matches both went the distance with Mathieu
Castagnet and Borja Golan both coming trough brutal
encounters with Hong Kong duo Max Lee and Leo Au to set up a meeting
in the last eight.
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