2020 Round 3 REPORTS

R3: It’s Amanda, again….

[8] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [13] Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)  11-9, 11-2, 11-5 (30m)

A very close first game, 13m of hard work, with Amanda making the court very wide for her compatriot who had a very tough match the day before against Sabrina, Amanda’s sister. Mind you, as the US Nationals have been cancelled, there, you have the semis and final! At 9/9 in the 1st, it was all possible, but it’s Amanda crisps attacked backup by accurate length that makes the difference, 11/9 for Amanda.

Next game is 5m, 11/2, but the last one is much more balanced, 10m although Amanda was always in front, 4/1, 7/3, 8/4, 11/5..

Liv

The first game had to be long, you battle away, and then, the ball dies, what can I do, it’s not going to help me…

My poor results against Amanda is a mixture of me struggling to play her, I find her so hard to read, and the fact that every player has a boggey, Amanda is mine. Then again, it didn’t help that yesterday I was battling away trying the job done while she had a 20m match! Not complaining as she was playing so well and sharp, but I just have no legs and three hours of sleep!

Oh well, I’ll get there…

Amanda
It’s never easy playing against Olivia.  Being the US No.1 I have a bullseye on my back and everyone else is gunning for me. Liv has been playing so well and that’s really great to show the depth of US squash and we’re very excited for World Teams, but I feel like I have all the pressure on me. I just really wanted to come out strong and get that first game because once I did, I felt like I could play a lot more freely.

I knew she had a battle yesterday with Sabrina, but she’s so fit, so I knew that she would get everything and I just had to make sure that I was relentless in the pace.

If you look at all of the other sports out there, you see a lot of disparity between the men and women in prize money and so to be a part of a sport that is really pushing the equal prize money and sees the value in having the men and women seen as equal in payment is truly huge for the sport. I think nowadays being one of those leading sports that is so progressive in equality is fantastic.