Top Seed Nour El Tayeb Claims South Western Open Crown

Top-seeded Egyptian Nour El Tayeb, the world No.8, claimed the 14th Tour title of her career when she defeated USA No.1 Amanda Sobhy in four games at the South Western Open Presented by Cotidié in Houston,Texas.

El Tayeb was a beaten finalist in the 2022 event, losing out to world No.2 Nouran Gohar. She looked as determined as ever to go one step further this year as she looked to make a move back towards the world's top five.

Sobhy has enjoyed a strong start to the season with two semi-final appearances in Platinum events so far. She started the final in similar fashion as she moved forward on the 'T' and narrowed the angles that El Tayeb was craving. After several long and entertaining rallies, Sobhy earned the first game ball at 10-9 and took it at the first time of asking to lead 1/0.

The talented Egyptian started to find her length in the second game of the PSA World Tour event and moved back in front of the American and was therefore able to display her attacking qualities to heap the pressure onto Sobhy.

After equalising at one-all, El Tayeb looked to find another gear to go into and really started to dictate play around the middle of the court. The world No.8 looked to have so much time on the ball in all areas and pushed and pulled Sobhy into all four corners of the court at pace. The Egyptian never looked back after establishing a lead in game three and closed out both the final games 11-5 to claim her first title of the new season.

"It was a big match for both me and Amanda today," said El Tayeb later. "I was excited and looking forward to the match because I knew it would be enjoyable and fair. I'm so happy to have won my biggest title in s few years it means so much to win this thank you so much for everyone to making me feel so welcome.

"Thanks to Engy Kheirallah, my coach. I've been working with her for a few months and it's made such a difference. I don't think I would have won this title without her or even still be playing.

"My goal is to just always play better. I know it sounds cliche but I really think that if I play well and keep getting better, I can achieve this [becoming world No.1] but for now I want to enjoy this and again, just a big thank you to everyone."