Egypt’s Nouran Gohar has reached a major PSA Squash Tour final just seven months after giving birth to her daughter after she ended the title defence of World No.2 Hania El Hammamy tonight in the longest women’s match in the history of the US Open Squash Championships powered by Comcast Business.

At 107 minutes in length, it was the joint 7th longest women’s professional squash match in history – tied with their meeting at the 2023 El Gouna International – and it could have been even longer had El Hammamy not had to retire from the match through an ankle injury in the deciding game.

Until that point, the pair – whose epic rivalry also resulted in the longest women’s match of all time totalling 130 minutes at the 2023 PSA Squash Tour Finals – had gone toe-to-toe in a dramatic match at Philadelphia’s Arlen Specter US Squash Center.

It was at 21-21 in a gripping tie-break that El Hammamy went over on her ankle when chasing down a ball into the front right hand corner. She came back on and was able to play through the pain barrier to take the third game and restore her lead, but the agony ultimately proved too much for her in the end as she retired injured in the fifth game.

“I want to say how much I missed Hania on tour,” said Gohar, whose last match before leaving the tour due to her pregnancy was against El Hammamy 14 months ago.

“It will seem weird, but I really missed these matches and this fire. Her and Nour brought the best out of me in terms of squash.

“Hopefully it isn’t very serious and she will recover very soon. She is such a competitor and such a fighter. It means everything [to be in another final]. I went through such a tough time, not only with the pregnancy, but with my blood clot as well. I was wondering if I could ever come back to compete, so I couldn’t have dreamt of being back in the final of a Platinum so soon.”

Gohar will take on World No.1 Amina Orfi after she came back from two games down to defeat 2023 champion Nour ElSherbini in a repeat of May’s PSA World Championships final.

Orfi won 7-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 to make it 18 wins in a row. Orfi remains undefeated this season and has already won the London Classic, Qatar Classic and Egyptian Open.

“She is the worst person to be 2-0 down to in a semi-final,” Orfi said.

“I tried to stay in the game and hit my targets. In the beginning I wasn’t playing well, so I told myself that today wasn’t the best squash day and I had to keep the rallies going, retrieve every ball and put the pressure on her. The biggest strength today for me was my fighting spirit. It’s a while since I came back from 2-0 down, and I’m really proud of what I did today.”

In the men’s event, Peru’s Diego Elias overcame World No.1 Mostafa Asal to reach the title decider of the Platinum event for the third time.

Elias had won 11 of 23 matches against Asal – the most recent triumph coming in the final of last month’s CIB Egyptian Open final – and made it back-to-back wins over the Egyptian following an 11-9, 11-3, 11-3 victory. Elias has now reached a 51st PSA Squash Tour Final and will look to add to the US Open title he won in 2022.

“We play good matches every time, he’s been World No.1 in the world for a long time now and you can see how he beats everyone,” said Elias afterwards.

“It means a lot to be in another US Open final. I’ve been playing lots of tournaments in the last couple of months, so I’m happy to be back in another final and hopefully I can do well tomorrow.”

Elias’s opponent will be 2023 winner Paul Coll, who will appear in his third US Open final after completing a superb comeback against World No.12 Aly Abou Eleinen, winning 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 after 92 minutes of intense action.

Coll looked down and out after falling two games behind and then 8-5 down in the third, but his mental strength was unwavering as he battled back to take three unanswered games. Coll, who will appear in his 60th PSA final, is 12-9 down on his head-to-head record with Elias and lost to the Peruvian in the semi-finals of last month’s CIB Egyptian Open.

“There’s a lot of belief in myself,” said Coll afterwards.

“I spoke to Ali Farag [former World No.1] last week and he gave me some great advice in terms of believing in myself and I carried that into this week. I started to get my game going in the second, then when I got that third I was pretty confident I could go all the way. It’s great [to be in the final] but the job is far from done. I’ll recover tonight and come back tomorrow.”

Defending champion Hania El Hammamy came back from match ball down as she prevailed in a thrilling battle with fellow Egyptian Fayrouz Aboelkheir during the second day of U.S. Open Squash Championships powered by Comcast Business quarterfinals Thursday, November 5, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.

El Hammamy, the current World No.2, had won all seven of their previous matches coming into today’s match but Aboelkheir has been in fine form this season after wins at the Swedish Open and Canada Cup and pushed her compatriot hard in Philadelphia.

In an early contender for match of the season, El Hammamy was just a single point from exiting the tournament, but stayed mentally strong to overturn Aboelkheir’s match ball before unleashing an almighty scream of celebration.

“Massive congratulations to Fayrouz for everything she has achieved over the last few months,” said El Hammamy afterwards.

“I had to accept how gifted and talented she is on court. I’m trying to shift my mindset a bit that this could be one of the most important phases of my career.

“I’m approaching every match as if it’s a big match now. I’m trying to regain my form and trying to find the performance and level of squash that I expect of myself. They’re [other players] making it hard for me and I’m happy to get through another one today.”

El Hammamy will lock horns with four-time champion Nouran Gohar for a place in the final, 14 months after they played the last of their 34 matches on the PSA Squash Tour.

Like El Hammamy, Gohar had to battle hard to book her spot in the semi-finals, coming back from 2-1 down to beat World No.17 Sana Ibrahim by an 11-5, 4-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-0 margin to extend her winning run at the US Open to 23 matches.

Gohar – who returned to the tour in September after a year away from the sport due to the birth of her daughter – has won 22 matches to El Hammamy’s 12 and it’s their first meeting since the semi-final of last year’s CIB Egyptian Open, which El Hammamy won in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

“When you’re out for a year, not everything comes together at the same time,” Gohar said.

“I know I have it in me, I’ve been training so hard and there are a lot of things behind the scenes that happened. If somebody would have told me that I would be in the semis, I wouldn’t have believed them. I’m very proud of myself, but I’m far from done.”

In the men’s event, World No.2 Paul Coll and World No.12 Aly Abou Eleinen will go head-to-head for a place in the title decider following wins over World No.6 Victor Crouin and World No.5 Karim Gawad, respectively.

Coll came back from 10-5 down in the fourth game of his contest with Crouin to avoid the match going to a decider, while it’s his third win in four matches against the Frenchman, with the pair meeting in every tournament so far this season.

“It’s annoying, he started dominating me on the volley, and it took me a game and a half to use my brain, said Coll, the 2023 champion.

“I watched a movie last night, it was called Unbroken, and that was the mantra I took in to today. It felt like I got hit in the head time and time again, but I had to switch myself back on. I wanted to trust my game and I’m happy I pulled through in that fourth.”

Meanwhile, Eleinen has reached his second major PSA semi-final after beating World No.5 Karim Gawad 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2. Eleinen also reached the last four of this tournament two years ago and will look to reach his maiden Platinum final when he takes on Coll. Coll has won all three of their matches.

“It’s a big moment for me, you have no idea all of the ups and downs I have had to go through,” Eleinen said.

“I had that high here a couple of years ago and I didn’t know if I would be able to get back here again. You put in a lot of hard work with your team and I don’t want to take it for granted, I want to keep pushing.”

Andrew Cordova, Director of Racquets at the Maryland Club, was honored with the President’s Cup, US Squash’s highest annual award Wednesday, November 4, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.

“He devoted more than three decades to growing the game of squash as a coach, competitor, administrator, official, and mentor,” said Mollie Marcoux Samaan, the chief executive officer of US Squash. “He is one of our best leaders and advocates for the game.”

“Drew led the club’s 2017 renovation, adding a third doubles court and establishing it as the premier doubles venue in the country,” said Anderson Good, US Squash’s Senior Manager of Development & Partnerships. “He has also directed countless tournaments, most notably the Maryland Club Open, a multiple-time SDA Tournament of the Year winner. Having played in the last three, I can attest that the recognition is so incredibly well deserved. Drew is the type of tournament director who is shaking hands with sponsors and spectators, asking if they need anything and welcoming them, but also cleaning the back walls of the courts after the matches himself. His hospitality, kindness, and genuine care extend to everyone, from lifelong squash players to first-time spectators. Through his leadership, he has built one of the strongest squash communities in the country, with club championships attracting more than 250 players and a calendar full of exceptional events.”

Cordova reached No.18 on the pro doubles tour, captured twenty-three open doubles titles, and is a ten-time Maryland State open doubles champion. As a U.S. Squash Level I certified coach, national verifier, and state-level referee, Cordova has made significant contributions to the growth of squash in the United States. Cordova graduated from Fordham in 1993, and coached in Florida and at Baltimore Country Club before joining the Maryland Club in June 2000.

Much of his efforts have been focused on developing the Squash Doubles Association. For over two years he served as its first director of development. His vision and leadership helped establish the foundation for the tour’s current growth and success. The Maryland Club hosts one of the tour’s marquee events, the Maryland Club Open, which features both the men’s and women’s draws. The Maryland Club Open is a multiple-time winner of the SDA Event of the Season Award, as voted on by SDA players.

A passionate advocate for junior squash, Andrew previously served as the president of Maryland Squash from 2010-12, as co-chair of junior development in Florida and as a U.S. junior squad coach, mentoring and developing many of the nation’s top young players. Throughout his career, he has championed opportunities for athletes at every level while fostering a culture of sportsmanship, excellence, and community.

In 2016 he was inducted into the Maryland State Squash Hall of Fame. A group of sixty-three Maryland Club members gave Cordova a standing ovation courtside as he accepted the President’s Cup from Samaan and Good.

The President’s Cup is the highest individual annual award at US Squash. Treddy Ketcham, a former chair of the board of US Squash and a legendary leader of the game, inaugurated the award in 1966. In the past sixty years, it has been given to those who have made exceptionally substantial, significant and sustained contributions to American squash. Past honorees include Hashim Khan, the global squash star, squash club manager Nancy Cushman, Ned Bigelow, founder of the U.S. Open, Hazel White Jones, Squash News editor and tournament director, Maria Toorpakai Wazir, Pakistani equal rights campaigner, and Linda Robinson, the former US Squash board member. Cordova is the fiftieth recipient of the President’s Cup.

 

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Yesterday at the 2026 U.S. Open Squash Championships presented by Comcast Business, Dominic Hughes received the 2026 Robert W. Callahan Sportsmanship Award. The award was presented by Mollie Marcoux Samaan, US Squash CEO.

“I knew of the legend of Bob Callahan when I was a student at Princeton,” Samaan said, “And then had the honor to get to know him and his amazing family when I returned to campus as athletic director during the last years of Bob’s life. He was truly one of a kind. He believed that developing character was important than developing champions. Bob’s ethos is central to US Squash. We ask our competitors to play with honesty, to respect both their opponent and officials and to handle victory and disappointment with grace and integrity. Tonight I am delighted that this year’s recipient of the Callahan is Dominic Hughes. Through coaching, leadership and enthusiasm, Dominic has helped generations of players discover squash, develop as leaders and find a lifelong community. Tonight we celebrate the example he sets and his lasting contributions—a fitting reflection of Bob Callahan’s legacy.”

Josh Hughes, Dominic’s son, then spoke: “My father—who was my first coach—has always been my role model for how I should try to play the game as a competitor and a sportsman. A squash pro’s impact can be measured by the culture they create at their club. At Berwyn, it’s about the love of the game and clean, honest squash—a direct reflection of my father’s ideals.”

Dominic Hughes is a legendary masters player. Born in Winnipeg, he grew up in Sheffield, England, became the national coach of Bermuda and then coached in Canada before moving to Philadelphia to run Berwyn Squash & Fitness Club.

He has had an extraordinary masters career in both singles and doubles that is unprecedented in U.S. squash. He has won the U.S. national title sixteen times in singles: the 35+ in 1997 and 1998; the 40+ in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006; the 45+ in 2007, 2009 and 2010; the 50+ in 2012, 2014 and 2015; the 55+ in 2018 and 2019; and the 60+ in 2023 and 2024.

Playing the left wall in squash doubles, Hughes has an equally impressive record with ten national age-group titles: with Rich Sheppard, he won the 45+ in 2007; the 50+ in 2012, 2014 and 2015; the 55+ in 2018 and 2019; and the 60+ in 2022 and 2023; and then the 60+ in 2024, 2025 and 2026 with Bart Sambrook. No one else has ever won masters titles in both singles and doubles in the same season as often as Hughes (six times).

To read more about Hughes and the history of the U.S.’s oldest public squash club, Berwyn Squash & Fitness Club: https://squashmagazine.com/2013/11/berwyns-40th-birthday-public-squash-reaches-milestone/

The Robert W. Callahan Sportsmanship Award was started in 2014. Previous honorees include Ed Chilton, Rich Sheppard, Richard Chin, Mark Talbott, Chris Spahr and Jay Nelson. Bob Callahan was the men’s coach at Princeton for thirty-two years before he died in January 2015 at the age of fifty-nine. His teams won three national titles and more Skillman Awards for collegiate sportsmanship than any other college in the nation. He founded one of the world’s oldest squash summer camps, and in 1998 he directed the World Junior Men’s Championship, the first world singles championship to be hosted in the U.S. Bob Callahan was inducted into the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame in the Class of 2011.

 

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SquashSmarts, Philadelphia’s award-winning youth mentoring program, held its annual VIP Night at the 2026 U.S. Open Squash Championships presented by Comcast Business on Monday, November 2.

Two hundred and fifty staff, students, parents, donors, advisors, board members and friends attended the evening, celebrating the programs on-going academic and athletic impact on Philadelphia public school students while enjoying the squash matches.

The night kicked off with SquashSmarts Game Day. Just like ESPN does for College GameDay, an animated pre-match crowd of students gathered behind Tempest Bowden as she was interviewed live on SquashTV. Bowden is a longtime SquashSmarts squash director and a proud alum of the SquashSmarts program.

On court, between matches, SquashSmarts gathered for a few short speeches and a photograph. They introduced forty-seven new middle school students who joined the program this fall; recognized the 1,250 community members who collaborated with the program last year; shouted out its 204 alumni—including fifty-seven recent graduates who are in college and who, with the staff’s support, have secured $4.6M in financial aid; and thanked long-time partners in US Squash, Drexel University, Lenfest Center and the School District of Philadelphia.

A highlight of the evening was the announcement of a historic development: it is believed that SquashSmarts has become the first squash program in the Squash + Education Alliance network to create a mom’s team. It is a self-titled “Squash Latina Madres”—a group of five mothers of SquashSmarts students who have fallen in love with game, play three nights a week, and will compete in next week’s Howe Cup, the annual women’s national team championships.

Founded in 2001, SquashSmarts is a 501(c)3 non-profit, providing free, intensive, out-of-school time academic and athletic mentoring programs for Philadelphia’s public-school students. Students are recruited from Esperanza Academy Charter, E.W. Rhoades Elementary, Overbrook Educational Center and Science Leadership Academy. Operating out of two facilities—the Lenfest Center in North Philadelphia and Arlen Specter US Squash Center—the program enrolls 160 students in 5th-12th grade, supports its graduates and offers community programs to families and community members.

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.