6:49 pm
16 Feb 2025

Brits Bryant & Parker Storm Into Cleveland Quarters

16 Jan 2025

Englishmen Jonah Bryant and George Parker defied the seedings in Squash in the Land in Cleveland, USA, to reach the quarter-finals of the first PSA Squash Tour event of 2025.

Unseeded Bryant, the 19-year-old reigning European Junior champion, followed his round one upset over Spaniard Bernat Jaume to beat defending champion Leonel Cardenas by the same 3/2 scoreline on day two.

This win was even more dramatic than his victory over Jaume, though, as he saved two match balls at 10-8 down in the fifth before taking the tiebreak 12-10 to overcome the No.6 seed and set up a quarter-final showdown with third seed Tarek Momen.

World No.49 Bryant's breakthrough victory takes the Brighton teenager into his first PSA Squash Tour Silver event quarter-final.

Meanwhile compatriot Parker, a 9/16 seed, upset Egypt's No.8 seed Mohamed Abouelghar 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 to earn a surprise quarter-final clash with Karim Gawad, the No.2 seed also from Egypt.

In the women's event USA's Amanda Sobhy reached a major milestone in her career by claiming her 300th PSA Tour win with a 3/0 victory over Emily Whitlock at the Cleveland Racquet Club.

Sobhy is one of the most successful American players of all time, but has had to battle through not one, but two career-threatening Achilles injuries, the most recent of which ruled her out for much of last season.

She returned to action in September with 291 wins to her name and ended the year just one shy of 300, setting herself up to reach the milestone as the No.4 seed in Ohio.

Standing in her way was Wales' Emily Whitlock, who herself has endured an injury-hit season thus far, and it was the American who made the faster start, moving swiftly from 3-3 to 9-5 in game one, closing it out 11-6 a few moments later.

Game two was a far tighter affair with nothing to split the players 16 points in, but it was once against Sobhy who came out on top, letting out a roar of emotion after securing the game 11-8 with a forehand cross-court winner.

A fast start to game three was always likely to be key to Whitlock's hopes of getting back into the contest, but instead it was Sobhy who raced out of the blocks, winning the first five points of the game.

Whitlock continued to battle, even at 10-4 down as she saved two match balls, but a third would be a step too far, as a tight forehand drop from the Sobhy racket left the Welsh No.2 unable to keep the rally alive.

Speaking after the match, Sobhy reflected on recording her 300th Tour win at an event she first played 17 years ago.

"I've been playing this tournament for years so I wanted to see the first time I actually played this tournament," she said.

"It was back in 2008, this is my 10th year playing this tournament and it was actually my second professional tournament ever.

"I was 15 years old just to put that into perspective of how many years I've been playing on Tour and how many years I've been coming to this event, so it's kind of fitting that I just got my 300th win in this event.

"I'm happy just to start the year off with a 3/0 win. I've been working hard and building momentum from the World Team Championships and I'm excited to compete. I feel healthy, I'm excited and I just want to show up and battle it out on court and give it my all."

There were four matches which finished 3/2 in the men's draw, alongside a tense win for Abdulla Al-Tamimi over Yahya Elnawasany, and comeback wins for Mohamed ElShorbagy and Youssef Ibrahim over Nick Wall and Nathan Lake respectively.

Elsewhere in the women's event, both Farida Mohamed and Satomi Watanabe celebrated their birthday with wins as all eight seeds progressed.