R3: SJP in 5 against Sabrina

[6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 3-2 [22] Sabrina Sobhy (USA)  8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 2-11, 11-8 (57m)

PSA reports

England No.1 Sarah-Jane Perry was taking on USA’s Sabrina Sobhy for a place in the last eight.

Sobhy scored a big victory against compatriot and No.10 seed Olivia Fiechter to reast the last 16 and continued that form right from the start in todays match. The US No.3 ir renowned for her physical fitness and attritional style and didnt give Perry time to play her accurate brand of squash.

After losing the first game, Perry responded. The England No.1 stepped up the court and pinned Sobhy in the back corner before working accurate attacks into the front two corners. This style of play partnered with disguise and hold was forcing the young American into doing lots of work. Perry went onto to lead 2-1 winning the second and third games 11-7, 11-8.

Sobhy wasn’t deterred however and continued to rush Perry and always force one more shot. The accuracy of Perry started to dwindle which only gave confidence to Sobhy as she forced a decider.

With only one point between the two at 5-4, it was anyone’s guess as to who was going to take the match. From this point it was the World No.6 who used all of her experience to pick off some loose drives and set herself up with 4 match balls. Despite a small comeback from Sobhy, Perry closed the match out to reach another World Championship quarter final.

Sarah Jane

“For some reason, I have a good record in five-setters, I’m not quite sure why, maybe because I just refuse to lose a lot of the time, I had no right to win that match today.

“You’ve got to hit harder to get to the back, hit higher too, if you just push the drops in you get punished so I tried to not push too many in. She wasn’t giving me many opportunities so I was just taking what I could get really.”