World No.16 Sabrina Sobhy stunned World No.3 Hania El Hammamy for the second time in her career to reach the Paris Squash 2023 last eight at the Palais de Tokyo.
Sobhy shocked El Hammamy at last season’s US Open to reach the last eight, and the American delivered again for another quarter-final berth. She will now play Georgina Kennedy for a place in women’s semi-finals.
The 26-year-old Sobhy came flying out of the traps in the first two games, taking them both 11-6 as El Hammamy struggled to get going and get in front of her opponent.
The third game sparked El Hammamy into life, getting within a point of Sobhy who was repelling everything the Egyptian threw at her. El Hammamy saved two of Sobhy’s match balls, but the American claimed her second career victory against El Hammamy to move into the quarter-finals.
“I feel like I was composed and that helped me a lot. It’s the first tournament back and there can be a lot of expectations, but I turned it around so that there were no expectations and I think that helped a lot,” said Sobhy.
“I had a similar game plan at the US Open [in 2022] – I just tried to use the height of the front wall as much as I could. I don’t think I could hang with her pace nor would I like to. So that was my game plan.”
Meanwhile in the men’s draw, Mohamed ElShorbagy fought back from 2-0 down to come out on top against Miguel Rodriguez in a pulsating clash. He won the last three games 11-4 to prevail over 64 minutes.
Men’s Third Round Results (bottom half): Paris Squash 2023
[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-2: 7-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (64m)
[6] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Auguste Dussourd (FRA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 (43m)
Joel Makin (WAL) bt [5] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9 (69m)
[2] Diego Elias (PER) bt Nick Wall (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 (40m)
Women’s Third Round Results (bottom half): Paris Squash 2023
Sabrina Sobhy (USA) bt [3] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 (47m)
[8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bt Hana Ramadan (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (23m)
[5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt Aifa Azman (MAS) 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 (37m)
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt Salma Hany (EGY) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
Men’s Quarter-Final Draw: To be played 31 August
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [7] Victor Crouin (FRA)
[8] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [4] Paul Coll (NZL)
[3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) v [6] Mazen Hesham (EGY)
Joel Makin (WAL) v [2] Diego Elias (PER)
Women’s Quarter-Final Draw: To be played 31 August
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [6] Nele Gilis (BEL)
[7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) v [4] Joelle King (NZL)
Sabrina Sobhy (USA) v [8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG)
[5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)