Sobhy Soars To World Title Success
Howard Harding reports...
Photo courtesy: www.squashsite.co.uk

El Tayeb & Sobhy Spring Semi Surprises In  Cologne

RESULTS:  Women's World Junior Squash  Championship, Cologne, Germany

Semi-finals:
[3]  Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [1] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 12-10, 14-12, 11-9 (38m)
[4] Nour  El Tayeb (EGY) bt [2] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 15-13, 11-9, 11-9 (40m)

Semi-finals day produced the first upsets in the 2010 Women's World Junior Squash  Championship when third seed Amanda Sobhy and fourth seed Nour El Tayeb ousted the top two  seeds to reach the final of the World Squash Federation event at  the ACR Sportcenter in Cologne,  Germany.

It was  the best possible 17th birthday present for Sobhy, the left-hander from  the USA who ended the historic world champion reign of Nour El Sherbini by beating the  14-year-old event favourite from Egypt 12-10, 14-12, 11-9.

El  Sherbini, then only 13, won the title last year against expectations to  become the sport's youngest world champion in  history. But New  Yorker Sobhy, ranked above her Alexandria-based opponent, battled to her  impressive win in 38 minutes – repeating the straight games victory she  achieved over El Sherbini in the world team championship that followed last year's historic individual triumph. Sobhy,  however, has also made her mark in squash history – by becoming the first  16-year-old to win four WISPA  World Tour titles.   

But it  will be on her 17th birthday that the world No36 bids to become the first  US winner of a world junior squash title.

Her  opponent Nour El Tayeb is marking her second successive appearance in the  final – and achieved her success for the second time in a row by beating  Dipika Pallikal, the  18-year-old from India who was last year's favourite and the second seed  this time. The  17-year-old from Cairo needed 40 minutes to overcome Chennai-based Pallikal 15-13, 11-9, 11-9.

El Tayeb  boasts a 3/0 head-to-head lead over her final opponent – but the younger  Sobhy currently boasts the higher world ranking:  A sensational climax to the event  is no doubt in store.

USA & India Celebrate Historic World Championship  Success

RESULTS:  Women's World Junior Squash  Championship, Cologne, Germany 2nd  round:

[1] Nour  El Sherbini (EGY) bt [9/16] Julia Lecoq (FRA) 11-5, 11-6, 13-11(21m)
[7]  Nouran El Torky (EGY) bt [9/16] Tamika Saxby (AUS) 7-11, 17-15, 7-11, 11-5, 11-3 (49m)
[8] Anaka  Alankamony (IND) bt [9/16] Catalina Pelaez (COL) 11-8, 11-8,11-7  (21m)
[3]  Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [9/16] Yathreb Adel (EGY) 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7 (35m)
[4] Nour  El Tayeb (EGY) bt [9/16] Farah Abdel Meguid (EGY) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8  (37m)
[6]  Olivia Blatchford (USA) bt [9/16] Melissa Alves (FRA) 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (27m)
[5] Kanzy  Emad El-Defrawy (EGY) bt [9/16] Cyrielle Peltier (FRA) 11-3, 11-7, 11-8  (26m)
[2]  Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt [9/16] Salma Hany (EGY) 12-10, 11-8, 11-2(34m)

Hidden  behind the fulfilled predictions that the top eight seeds are through to  the quarter-finals of the Women's  World Junior Squash Championship in Germany lies the fact that USA and India are both celebrating the appearance of two players in the last eight of a world championship for  the first time. And all  four players marked their historic success with relative ease in the  second round of the World Squash  Federation event at the ACR Sportcenter in Cologne.

India's  Dipika Pallikal and Anaka Alankamony, both from  Chennai, made their breakthroughs after straight games wins.  Second seed Pallikal, the only player to be marking her fourth appearance in the championship, beat Salma Hany 12-10, 11-8, 11-2 in  34 minutes - thereby avenging her five-game loss to the 17-year-old  Egyptian in January's British  Junior Open.

Anaka  Alankamony, the 15-year-old eighth seed, needed only 21 minutes to overcome 18-year-old Colombian Catalina Pelaez 11-8, 11-8,  11-7.

New  Yorkers Amanda Sobhy and Olivia Blatchford displayed the  same prowess which has seen the US pair make their mark on the WISPA World Tour.  Sobhy,  who last month became the first 16-year-old in history to win three Tour  titles, fought off the challenge of promising Egyptian Yathreb Adel, beating the  14-year-old from Cairo 11-7, 11-6, 5-11,  11-7.

Olivia  Blatchford, 17, dismissed French opponent Melissa Alves 11-9, 11-9,11-6 in  27 minutes – and will now take on last year's runner-up Nour El Tayeb, one of four  Egyptians in the last eight.

Event  favourite Nour El Sherbini  claimed one of the quickest victories of the day by beating France's Julia Lecoq 11-5, 11-6, 13-11 in  21 minutes. The  14-year-old defending champion from Alexandria now faces fellow countrywoman Nouran El Torky,  the No7 seed who survived the toughest second round battle in overcoming  Australian Tamika Saxby 7-11,  17-15, 7-11, 11-5, 11-3 in 49 minutes.

Quarter-final line-up:

RESULTS:  Women's World Junior Squash  Championship, Cologne, Germany 1st  round:

[1] Nour  El Sherbini (EGY) bt Amalie Bornaes (DEN) 11-2, 11-1, 11-0  (11m) [9/16]  Julia Lecoq (FRA) bt Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND) 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4,  11-4 (39m) [9/16]  Tamika Saxby (AUS) bt Franziska Hennes (GER) 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7  (42m) [7]  Nouran El Torky (EGY) bt Elvira Bedjai (FRA) 11-5, 12-10, 12-10  (22m) [8] Anaka  Alankamony (IND) bt Ashley Tidman (FRA) 11-4, 11-7, 11-9  (11m) [9/16]  Catalina Pelaez (COL) bt Maria Elena Ubina (USA) 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 (14m)[9/16]  Yathreb Adel (EGY) bt Nikki van der Heijden (NED) 11-3, 11-5, 11-0 (13m) [3]  Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt Nana Frederiksen (DEN) 11-1, 11-1, 11-1  (11m) [4] Nour  El Tayeb (EGY) bt Oxane Ah Hu (FRA) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7  (21m) [9/16]  Farah Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt Anwesha Reddy (IND) 11-4, 11-7, 11-6 (19m) [9/16]  Melissa Alves (FRA) bt Haley Mendez (USA) 11-7, 11-5, 11-9  (31m) [6]  Olivia Blatchford (USA) bt Caroline Sayegh (GER) 11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5  (26m) [5] Kanzy  Emad El-Defrawy (EGY) bt Tessa ter Sluis (NED) 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 (17m) [9/16]  Cyrielle Peltier (FRA) bt Sharya Guruge (SRI) 11-4, 11-7, 11-9 (22m) [9/16]  Salma Hany (EGY) bt Sandra Polak (AUT) 11-3, 11-3, 11-8  (18m) [2]  Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt Katie Tutrone (USA) 11-1, 11-4, 11-2  (17m)

The top  16 seeds duly claimed their places in the second round of the Women's World Junior Squash  Championship in Germany – with Egypt's hot favourite Nour El Sherbini taking just 11  minutes to overcome her first round opponent in the World Squash Federation event at  the ACR Sportcenter in Cologne.

The  14-year-old from Cairo, who last year became the youngest world champion  in the history of the sport, despatched 17-year-old Dane Amalie Bornaes 11-2, 11-1,  11-0.

A French  opponent awaits El Sherbini in the last sixteen round after Julia Lecoq overcame India's Aparajitha Balamurukan.  But higher-ranked Balamurukan, from  Chennai, took a 2/1 lead over the 16-year-old from Paris before Lecoq, a  9/16 seed, regained control to win 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4,  11-4.

There was  Indian success elsewhere, however, as second seed Dipika Pallikal cruised to an  11-1, 11-4, 11-2 victory over Katie Tutrone, from the USA, in  just 17 minutes – and eighth seed Anaka Alankamony, also from  Chennai, crushed France's Ashley  Tidman 11-4, 11-7, 11-9 in 11 minutes.

The hosts  came close to pulling off the only upset on the opening day when unseeded  Franziska Hennes faced  Australia's 9/16 seed Tamika  Saxby.

Hennes,  an 18-year-old senior German international from Homburg, took the opening  game and recovered from 2/1 down to force the match into a fifth game  decider.

But  higher-ranked Saxby, 17, from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, eventually  pulled through to win 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7 in 42 minutes to set up  a second round clash with Egypt's No7 seed Nouran El  Torky.

2nd round  line-up: