The path to the 2026 U.S. Open titles has been revealed, with newly crowned World No. 1 Amina Orfi topping the women’s draw for the first time at a major event, and defending champion Mostafa Asal leading the men’s field, November 1-7, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
The tournament is set to bring 64 of the world’s leading male and female players to the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia to compete for one of the sport’s most historic titles, with a record total of $485,000 of equal prize money up for grabs.
View the full draws on usopensquash.com/draws. The full match schedule will be available in the coming weeks.
Continuing on from last year, the semifinals and finals (Nov. 6-7th) of the tournament will be streamed live on Peacock in the United States. In addition, the tournament will be broadcast on SQUASHTV and by the PSA’s broadcast partners around the world. Tickets are available to purchase on usopensquash.com/tickets.
For the first time in her career, Egypt’s Amina Orfi is the top seed for a major event draw. The 19-year-old became the youngest-ever women’s World No.1 earlier this week, overtaking Susan Devoy’s record set in 1984. Orfi has claimed three of the last four major titles on the PSA Squash Tour and will be determined to continue her dominance by picking up a first U.S. Open title.
No.2 seed and defending champion Hania El Hammamy beat Orfi in last year’s final in straight games. A win that guaranteed El Hammamy the World No.1 position for the first time in her career. She held the coveted position for 41 weeks and will be desperate to reclaim the top spot as quickly as possible. The 26-year-old has a strong record at the Arlen Specter Center, reaching the semifinals or better in four of the last five seasons.
Situated in the same half as El Hammamy is Philadelphia native and world No. 4 Olivia Weaver. Weaver seems to save her best performances for home soil events, reaching the final four in 22 of her last 29 events in the U.S., and picking up eight titles along the way.
Weaver will be joined by U.S. teammates Amanda Sobhy and Marina Stefanoni in the women’s draw. Sobhy, world No. 10, will open up her tournament against Scotland’s Georgia Adderley. A first round win could see Sobhy face eight-time world champion Nour El Sherbini in the second round. Stefanoni, world No. 14, is set for a blockbuster first round match up against four-time U.S. Open champion Nouran Gohar. Gohar has returned to the tour this season after giving birth to her first child in April this year and although suffering a slight setback in Qatar recently, she’ll be making sure that she is fully prepared for one of her favorite events on tour.
The men’s event will see World No.1 and two-time champion Mostafa Asal top the draw as he looks to defend his title, which he won emphatically last season. Asal didn’t drop a single game on route to the title last year and will be hoping to replicate that this season as he hunts more major silverware.
The two primary threats to Asal continue to be World No.2 Paul Coll and former World Champion Diego Elias. Coll, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, got the better of Asal on two occasions last season, both in major finals. The New Zealander has reached two of the last three finals at the Arlen Specter Center and will be hoping to do so again this time around. Peru’s Elias also claimed a win over Asal last season, at the El Gouna International; however, Elias will be looking to bounce back after a shock loss to Team USA’s Timothy Brownell in Doha, the first time that Elias has lost to a player ranked outside the top 20 for more than four years. Elias is seeded to face Asal in the semifinals while Coll is projected to play No. 4 seed Karim Gawad.
U.S. No. 1 Timmy Brownell will aim to please the home crowd in the first round against former Harvard teammate and world No. 5 Victor Crouin.
Four Americans will enter the draw as wild cards, including Harvard’s Lucie Stefanoni and Princeton’s Alex Jaffe. Penn grads Nicholas Spizzirri, world No. 82, and Salim Khan occupy the men’s wild card spots.