Top Seeds Sobhy & Hany To Contest Canadian Open Final
30 Mar 2023
USA's Amanda Sobhy and Egypt's Salma Hany will contest the 2023 Canadian Open final after straight games wins over sister Sabrina Sobhy and Olivia Clyne, respectively.
Everything appeared to be going to plan for the top seed in the opener, with Amanda Sobhy racing into a 6-1 lead. Sabrina, however, showed impressive tenacity and cut down on the errors as she played a careful game and timed her attacks well to take nine of the next twelve points to earn a game ball at 10-9.
The No.3 seed was unable to convert, though, with Amanda saving the game ball and then converting her first to take the opener 12-10.
The US No.1 then doubled her lead with a hard-fought 11-9 win to get one foot through the door of the final.
Both players threw everything at each other in a tight third game, with Sabrina Sobhy using width well to nullify her older sister's attack.
At 8-7 up in game three, Sabrina had opportunities to force her way back into the match, but a costly error allowed Amanda to regain the momentum and earn two match balls at 10-8.
Sabrina saved one match ball, but was powerless to save the second, with Amanda securing her spot in the final with her second 11-9 win of the contest.
Afterwards, Amanda Sobhy said: "I wanted to go out there and show her that I'm top dog in the Sobhy family for a reason and she's going to have to work to beat me. I know she's going to come back stronger again and it's going to be just as tough, but I'm going to try and hold on for as long as I can with the winning streak!"
While Hany's result was the same scoreline as Sobhy's, her win over USA's Clyne was far more comprehensive.
The Egyptian was in a dominant mood in the opener, with the 26-year-old's power and accuracy proving potent against the bustling style of the American as she moved into the lead with an 11-6 win.
Hany then doubled her lead with another 11-6 win, with Clyne struggling for accuracy at times and the Egyptian content to play the fundamentals.
The American pushed higher up the court in the third game and caused Hany a number of problems, particularly when going short, but the world No.14 had too much quality, firing in crowd-pleasing winners of her own to wrap up the match with an 11-9 victory.
"I'm very happy with today's performance. Olivia's such an amazing player and has been playing really well since the beginning of the season. I'm obviously very proud of how I managed the game and am very happy to be through in three," Hany said afterwards.