Sobhy Stuns El Welily In Historic ToC Upset

Team USA's 2015 triple-PanAm 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 Egypt's world No.2 Raneem El Welily, the defending champion, in the second round of the JP Morgan Tournament of Champions.

In the stunning setting of the Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal in her home city of New York, Sobhy played with devastating attacking precision as she reeled off winner after winner to complete an 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6 3-1 victory over the top seed in 40 minutes and send the capacity crowd into raptures.

"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 the recent Harvard graduate, who only transitioned to life as a full time pro last summer after completing a degree in Social Anthropology.

"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," added the 22-year-old No.10 seed. "She's a phenomenal player, she won here last year and she's been world No.1 but 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."

El Welily, who topped the world rankings from September to December last year, was a hot favourite to retain the title she won in convincing fashion twelve months ago - but it was Sobhy, playing without fear, who wrote her name into TOC folklore. After taking the opening game she pressed on the front foot throughout the encounter, and despite dropping the second, looked every bit the genuine title contender her current career high ranking of No.8 suggests.

"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 US star who currently trains in Boston under the guidance of Frenchman Thierry Lincou, the former world No.1 and world champion.

"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 and both he and my other coach, Shahid Zaman, have really helped me push on.

"Hopefully I can back it up now in the quarters on Tuesday."

Sobhy will face England's Alison Waters in the last eight after the Londoner recorded a comfortable 3/0 victory over Delia Arnold - while fellow Englishwoman Laura Massaro, the current world No.1, was forced to call on all her mental strength to come through a difficult second round match with French qualifier Coline Aumard during which she 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 and 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 next match because I know I need to raise my level."

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 and book a quarter-final berth against crowd favourite Gregory Gaultier, the reigning 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, 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 so 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."