Blatchford and Sobhy Reach Cleveland Classic Quarterfinals in Five Games

Blatchford (L) won gold and silver medals in the 2015 Pan American Games. (image: Paige Stewart)
Blatchford (L) won gold and silver medals in the 2015 Pan American Games. (image: Paige Stewart)

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Team USA’s Olivia Blatchford and Amanda Sobhy both progressed to the $50,000 Tub O’Towels Cleveland Classic quarterfinals after pulling out five-game victories in the round of sixteen Saturday afternoon.

Sobhy first endured a difficult encounter against England’s world No. 19 Victoria Lust. After going down 2-1 in games, Sobhy clawed back to win the match 9-11, 11-4, 11-13, 12-10, 11-4.

Sobhy now faces India’s world No. 17 Dipika Pallikal in the quarterfinals Sunday afternoon at 3:30 local time.

Blatchford found herself two games down against England’s world No. 14 Jenny Duncalf, but turned the match around winning the third 11-5. While Blatchford was up 6-3 in the fourth, Duncalf pulled a muscle lunging for the ball, which hampered her movement for the rest of the match. The American world No. 37 capitalized closing out the match in five to pull off her highest-ranked career upset and her best appearance at the Cleveland Classic in her fourth time playing the tournament.

Blatchford now faces England’s two seed and world No. 9 Alison Waters Sunday at 4:15pm.

All matches are streaming live here, and scoring live on U.S. Pro Series Live.