Egyptian World No.5 Nour El Sherbini came out on top in a highly entertaining battle with home favourite Amanda Sobhy in the final of the 2016 Women’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions to lift her first everPSA World Series title and claim part of the biggest prize fund in the tournament’s history after 2016 saw the prestigious event offer parity in prize money for the first time ever.
El Sherbini secured her final berth after a stunning straight games victory over World No.3 Nicol David in the previous round while Sobhy’s superb triumph against 18-year-old World Junior Champion Nouran Gohar saw her reach a maiden PSA World Series final.
Backed on by a partizan home crowd, 22-year-old Sobhy found her way back into the encounter in game two by mixing up the height and length of her shots to great effect. A magnificent trickle boast saw the United States No.1 claim game ball and she converted at the first attempt to level the scores.
El Sherbini responded though and romped to a 5-0 lead in game three before a gargantuan effort from Sobhy meant that the American achieved another game ball to give herself a chance of seizing a one-game advantage for the first time. This time El Sherbini managed to wrestle the momentum of the match back in her favour and she took the game on the tie-break to reestablish her lead.
That defeat seemed to dent Sobhy’s confidence at the beginning of the fourth as El Sherbini surged into a powerful lead. The Egyptian No.2 fended off a late attempt at a fight back from her opponent in the latter stages of the match and hit a brilliant back-hand drive to seal the victory with an 11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8 scoreline.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, I can’t express it,” said El Sherbini.
“Words can’t describe how I’m feeling now. This one is really special and to win it is something that I’m never going to forget. We’re all at the same level and we’re all competing and everyone is beating each other.
“It’s really hard in the top ten now. A lot of the young players are coming which you can see with me and Amanda being in the final. We used to compete against each other in the juniors.
“I’m really glad that I won this year, I’m really happy.”
Result – Final: Women’s J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2016
[7] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [10] Amanda Sobhy (USA) 3-1: 11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8 (46m)
