Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim and Fayrouz Abouelkheir knocked out both six seeds during opening day of the 2024 Comcast Business U.S. Open Championships, while Team USA’s Olivia Weaver made a confident start to her tournament Saturday, October 19, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
Both Ibrahim and Abouelkheir came back from 2-1 down against top-ten-ranked opponents in Karim Abdel Gawad and Georgina Kennedy.
Ibrahim, world No. 17, recorded just his second career victory over the in-form Gawad, a former world champion. Ibrahim came through the heated match on the Specter Center side courts to reach his second consecutive U.S. Open round of sixteen 8-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 in over eighty minutes.
Abouelkheir, world No. 13, saved a match ball in the fourth game against England’s Georgina Kennedy to win her second match against the world No. 6 in as many months. The eighteen-year-old Egyptian recorded her first career U.S. Open victory 11-7, 4-11, 9-11, 14-12, 11-5 in an hour.
“I’m really happy to be through today,” Abouelkheir said. “Gina is such a hard player to come up against; she’s so quick around the court and had match balls in the fourth game. I just think about it [being match ball down] in a very easy way. You’re already losing, so you have nothing else to lose. You can just go for your shots a lot more in those moments.”
Three days after winning the biggest title of her career at the Silicon Valley Open, Weaver continued her momentum with a decisive 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 win over Egypt’s Nour Abouelmakarim. Weaver, the four seed, will face England’s Katie Malliff in the round of sixteen on Monday after Malliff upset compatriot Lucy Turmel.
Men’s Wild Cards Spencer Lovejoy and Salim Khan both fell short of reaching the second round. Lovejoy pushed England’s Patrick Rooney in a close four-game match, while Khan lost out against Egypt’s Mazen Hesham.
The second half of the first round will play out during Sunday afternoon’s session. Americans Amanda Sobhy, Timmy Brownell, and Marina and Lucie Stefanoni will aim for home court success.
Tickets are available on usopensquash.com/tickets. Watch live coverage on squash.tv.