Amanda Sobhy Wins Sibling Showdown To Make US Open Quarters

World No.9 Amanda Sobhy booked her spot in the quarter-finals of the Comcast Business US Open after defeating younger sister Sabrina Sobhy in a high-quality four-game duel at the Arlen Spectre US Squash Center in Philadelphia.

The Sobhy sisters, who have both suffered season-ending injuries over the last two years, shared the court together for the first time since the 2023 Canadian Open, with six-time US National Champion Amanda eventually taking the spoils by a 7-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-6 scoreline.

Amanda, a US Open semi-finalist in 2016 and 2023, responded impressively to a quick start from wildcard Sabrina, firing back with a dominant second-game win and moving through to victory after 43 minutes of play.

The 32-year-old will face off against top seed Nour ElSherbini for a place in the last four of the Platinum-level event.

"I'm really happy. I think it was a great match, honestly," Sobhy senior said after the match.

"There weren't that many contentious calls. It was fair play. Good squash on both ends. And it's nice, you know, like the last two years we were both out and it's nice to see her back. It's nice that we get to battle it out on court again.

"I think we learned our lesson from the last time, when it didn't go so well. I think we were respectful in the sense that we talked to each other like sisters, but then gave each other space to prepare for a match and kept our distance. We'll go back to being sisters, and we'll probably go get lunch tomorrow and hang out!"

Elsewhere, two-time World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria laid down another statement of intent to the rest of the men's tour with a hard-earned three-game upset victory over world No.10 Youssef Soliman.

World No.15 Zakaria's last outing on the PSA Squash Tour was his controversial defeat to Jonah Bryant in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic - a gruelling match which was arguably overshadowed by conversations surrounding the movement of the young Egyptian - and the 18-year-old admitted that the manner of that defeat had weighed heavily on him during his preparations at the US Open.

After overcoming No.6 seed Soliman 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, Zakaria said: "Today, I wasn't really focusing on my squash. I was focusing more on my movement.

"I wasn't happy with how I played or how I carried myself on court in Qatar. I was ashamed of myself for the movements I was doing and that was not how I wanted to play. After the match, I went back and watched it all over again. My training was to try to clear as much as I can and not make these movement mistakes, because this is not how I want to carry myself on court.

"I think I did a pretty good job today. My mistakes were way less. There are still some mistakes, but I'm sure I'm going to finish them in a couple of weeks."

Joining Zakaria in the last eight of the men's event is unseeded Frenchman Baptiste Masotti, who ended the run of No.7 seed Aly Abou Eleinen with an inspired straight games performance. The world No.18 will face off against recent Qatar Classic champion Paul Coll, after the No.2 seed put in a dominant display to defeat up-and-coming star Jonah Bryant.

Nour ElSherbini, Amina Orfi and Karim Gawad also advanced on day three of action in Philadelphia, after respective wins over Marina Stefanoni, Hana Moataz and Fares Dessouky. No.6 seed Tinne Gilis completed the quarter-final line-up after her opponent, Jasmine Hutton, retired at the end of the third game after sustaining an ankle injury.