Unseeded Omar Sobhy produced a sensational week of squash in Atlanta, beating four of the top five seeds on his way to a maiden PSA Tour title at the Georgia Open.
The 20-year-old Egyptian, who was part of the UPenn team that won the CSA National Collegiate Team Championships earlier this year, had not played a PSA Tour event since 2021, and had only played two before in total, both in his native Egypt.
He entered this event in Georgia as an unseeded player, though, and provided a glimpse of what was to come with a ruthless round-one win over Cory McCartney, losing only seven points in the match.
He then came from behind to beat fifth seed Ahsan Ayaz 3-1 in round two, setting up for a quarter-final matchup with the USA’s Salim Khan.
Khan was a wildcard at this year’s U.S. Open, but Sobhy proved too strong here in Georgia, winning 3-0 to reach his first career semi-final.
He was far from content with a run to the last four, though, despite having No.1 seed Alejandro Enriquez standing between him and a shot in the final.
Enriquez had tasted success in Atlanta over the summer, winning his biggest career title to date, and the pair went toe-to-toe over five games, with momentum swinging one way and then the other. But it was Sobhy who ultimately came out on top, dominating the deciding fifth with the loss of only two points.
That set him up for a final against Mexican third seed Jorge Luis Gomez Dominguez but the 20-year-old Alexandrian was not going to be denied.
A second-game loss aside, Sobhy controlled proceedings throughout, winning game one 11-3 and then games three and four 11-4, 11-3, to close out a memorable week with his first piece of PSA Squash tour silverware.