The Arlen Specter US Squash Center, which is scheduled to open for the 2020 U.S. Open, was highlighted on Thursday evening at the 2018 FS Investments U.S. Open.

Located just two blocks from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station in the historic Armory building, the Specter Center will feature eighteen singles courts—including two all-glass exhibition courts—and two doubles courts, serve as US Squash’s national headquarters, the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame, house a Learning & Innovation Center and offer elite athletes state-of-the-art development resources including a Coaching Excellence Center and coordination with Drexel University’s robust capabilities as a major Division I athletic program. The Specter Center will serve as a model for community engagement and access, operating in partnership with SquashSmarts, Philadelphia’s award-winning out-of-school squash and education program.

Between U.S. Open quarterfinal matches on Thursday evening, a ceremony celebrating the planned Specter Center was held on the ASB Glasscourt with representatives from US Squash, Drexel and SquashSmarts. John Fry, president of Drexel University, remarked on the journey that has led to this point: “This was a vision of many over a long period of time with a couple of guiding principles that did stay true. We want to build—and we will build—the finest squash facility in the world, hands down. The Specter Center is guided by three principles: the first is access—squash for all, the second principle is opportunity—cultivating the next generation of squash players through a program like SquashSmarts, and the third is excellence—elite athletes will train here and reach the next level because of the Specter Center.”

Coupled with the seven courts of the Kline & Specter Squash Center at Drexel, as well as twelve new courts at the University of Pennsylvania, the Specter Center will create a hub of thirty-seven courts within a three-block radius in University City. The Specter Center will deliver an unparalleled event experience to players and fans from around the country—and the world—as they visit Philadelphia.

The Specter Center has been made possible by the generosity of a visionary group of donors, led by Shanin and Tracey Specter. Specter reflected on the importance of squash to his late father Arlen Specter, the longest-serving senator from Pennsylvania and long-time squash devotee: “It is so important to Tracy and me and our entire family to be able to support squash in this manner. My father was a great inspiration for us to play squash and be physically fit. He was pretty busy as a member of the U.S. Senate and yet he would play squash just about every day. He would say ‘I used to say that squash is the most important thing I do every day, but now I say that squash is the only important thing I do every day.’ He also said ‘you’re never too far behind to win, and you’re never too far ahead to lose.’ That’s of course a great lesson both on the court and in life. It just comes to us so naturally to be able to support this fantastic sport—this sport for a lifetime.”

The potential of the Specter Center was represented on court by current U.S. champion Amanda Sobhy, and SquashSmarts middle school squash director Tempest Bowden. Through grassroots engagement and elite athlete development, the Specter Center will be a home for the entire U.S. squash community.

The fifth-annual Women in Sport Day took place Wednesday during the 2018 FS Investments U.S. Open at Drexel. The program featured a panel discussion, a clinic run by U.S. Open professionals for SquashSmarts students, and a reception and on-court ceremonies honoring leaders empowering girls and women in sport. A portion of the proceeds from Women in Sports Day benefit the US Squash’s Women’s Fund, helping build women’s squash programming in emerging and new markets across the country.

The day began with a mid-afternoon panel discussion at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Like last year, it was moderated by Katline Couwels. A former world no. 42, Couwels is co-director of the new innovative six-court club, MSquash Accelerator, along with her husband Shaun Moxham.

Joining her were Betsy Pulick, a treating physician at Ridgefield Sports Medicine in Connecticut; Caroline Glain, a fasciatherapist and sports mental coach from Brittany, France; Nyree Dardarian, an assistant clinical professor at Drexel and the director of Drexel’s Center for Integrated Nutrition & Performance; and Olivia Blatchford, the Team USA star and world No. 16.

Last year’s panel discussed the mental side of squash; this year it was about how to build and maintain a strong physical body. The discussion ranged from what to eat during a match—Dardarian introduced a new product, the Dragon Gel, a sports snack—to resistance training and the protection joints to the prevalence of low vitamin D levels in squash players.

“You want to be strong, balanced and flexible,” Glain said. “You need to work on your weaknesses. Don’t work on your dominant muscles, work on the weaker ones so you can be balanced.” Both Pulick and Dardarian spoke about the need for players to be wet sponges not dry sponges—to warm up properly so that the body was elastic and flexible.

The discussion ended with a question-and-answer session. Watch a replay of the panel discussion on the U.S. Open Facebook page.

On the Kline & Specter Squash Courts at Drexel, in addition to the panel, Women in Sports Day also included squash practice session with girls from SquashSmarts. A cohort of PSA players—2017 U.S. Open Champion Nour El Tayeb, Alison Waters, and Nele Gilis—led the clinic, giving the students a first-hand look at life on the professional tour.

SquashSmarts, now in its eighteenth season, is the central community partner of the recently announced $40 million Arlen Specter US Squash Center. Founded in 2001, SquashSmarts is a free, intensive out-of-school academic and athletic mentoring non-profit changing the lives of Philadelphia’s public school students. It operates daily out of two facilities—the Lenfest Center in North Philadelphia and Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center.

The Women in Sports Day Reception was held beginning at 5:00pm in a dramatic setting adjacent to the ASB Glasscourt. At the beginning of the speaking program, Kevin Klipstein, the president and CEO of US Squash, welcomed the many guests to the reception and introduced Mia Fioravanti, the manager of corporate communications at FS Investments and executive director of the FS Foundation. Fioravanti spoke about FS Investments synergy with US Squash, as both seek to develop access, community and excellence.

At the reception, Julieanne Harris of the Philadelphia Cricket Club was presented with the US Squash Achievement Bowl–the organization’s oldest award–and Alexandra (AK) Frazier was presented with the Women in Sports Day Special Recognition Award.

Quarterfinal play commenced following the reception with two women’s and two men’s matches, with world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini and 2016 U.S. Open Champion Camille Serme advancing to the women’s semifinal, and world No. 1 Mohamed ElShorbagy and first-time semifinalist Paul Coll doing so on the men’s side.

Alexandra (AK) Frazier was presented with the Women in Sports Day Special Recognition Award during a reception at the FS Investments U.S. Open on Wednesday evening.

The award was presented by Karen Dougherty Buchholz, the Senior Vice President for Comcast. Buchholz led the development of Comcast’s Technology Center, which opened earlier this year and is the tallest building in the U.S. not in Chicago or New York. Buchholz is also a squash mother, as her daughter Julia plays for the team at Penn.

A fifth-generation competitive golfer, Frazier launched Women Golfers Give Back in 2003 and is the president of its board of directors.  A Philadelphia-based non-profit, Women Golfers Give Back has raised more than $1 million for fifteen local golf programs that promote girls’ golf. Frazier also serves as the Executive Director of the Valentine Foundation, which supports programs building socially equitable outcomes for women and girls. In speaking about Frazier receiving the Special Recognition Award, Buchholz noted how her life has been enriched, enhanced and shaped by sports and how she works to enable other women to have that same experience.

Kevin Klipstein, the president and CEO of US Squash, then spoke about the progress that has been made in women’s squash, but that it was not the time to be complacent; instead, efforts towards creating equity in the squash community–and improving the lifelong experiences of women and girls in the sport–must be constantly supported and reinforced. Klipstein reminded the audience about the famous line by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a 2013 dissent, to being weary about “throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm when you are not getting wet.”

Olivia Blatchford Clyne was honored at the FS Investments U.S. Open with the 2017 United States Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year Award nomination. Rich Wade, the Senior Director of National Teams and Certifications, introduced Blatchford Clyne to a rousing ovation on the ASB GlassCourt.

Blatchford Clyne, a twenty-five year-old Wilton, Connecticut-native, had a remarkable 2017.  She jumped from world No. 27 in January to world No. 12 in December and won her first National Singles title to go with her four U.S. junior age-group titles.

Blatchford Clyne has been supported by the US Squash Elite Athlete Program since returning to the pro tour full-time in 2013 when she was ranked outside of the world’s top fifty.

Blatchford Clyne first represented senior Team USA at fifteen years old during the 2015 Women’s World Team Championship.

Since 1991, the USOC Athlete of the Year has been US Squash’s highest award for outstanding achievement in international competition. Previous winners include Mark Talbott, Demer Holleran, Louisa Hall, Ivy Pochoda, Michelle Quibell, Gilly Lane, Timmy Brownell, Amanda Sobhy and last year’s honoree Reeham Sedky.

The 2018 FS Investments U.S. Open Championships are down to the last eight in each draw, as three former champions—Ali Farag, Laura Massaro and Gregory Gaultier—all advanced from the third round Tuesday at Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Seven of the day’s eight matches played out according to seeding with Wales’ world No. 12 Tesni Evans producing the sole upset of the day against New Zealand’s world No. 4 Joelle King. Following the comeback theme of the tournament, King controlled the first game 11-7 and edged a close second 14-12 to earn a 2-0 lead. Evans earned new life by taking the third 11-9, and pushed ahead to claim the match in five 11-7, 11-5.

“I saw Amanda [Sobhy] come from 2-0 down yesterday,” Evans said. “I was getting completely outplayed for the first two games, she had me everywhere and was all over me, so something had to change. I tried to change my game a little bit and luckily it paid off in the end.”

Evans will face England’s Sarah-Jane Perry as both players prepare to make their U.S. Open quarterfinal debuts Thursday. Perry, world No. 8, has defeated Evans in all six of their previous PSA encounters.

“I’m not going to lie if you look at the head-to-head then I’m not looking very good,” Evans said. “I’ve never beaten her before, but it’s another opportunity to have another go and I’m really looking forward to the quarter-finals and I will give it everything in that match.”

Elsewhere in the women’s draw, two-time champion Laura Massaro held off a five-game comeback after holding a 2-0 lead against three-time champion Nicol David. The vintage match-up marked the thirty-third PSA match between the two legends of the women’s game in a rematch of the 2013 final that saw David win in five. It was Massaro who pulled away in the fifth game to make it a 2-1 record in Philadelphia against the eight-time world champion, adding to her 2015 quarterfinal win.

“Before the fifth, Nick Matthew came over to me and said ‘you need to get your body language up, you’ve got to hit the ball the way you know you can hit it and it comes down to whether you want it or not,’” Massaro said. “Sometimes it just needs to be simplified like that and I just went on there and tried to fight. It was tight but I’m just happy to get over the line in the end.”

Massaro will face world No. 2 and two seed Raneem El Welily, who prevailed in a lively three-game match against Team USA’s Olivia Blatchford.

“Olivia played really well today and she really pushed me,” El Welily said. “It was hard to break her game down and it was a challenge today. She is one of the best players on tour at the moment, she has a great game and she’s improved a lot, every movement has improved a lot.”
On the men’s side, defending champion Ali Farag progressed to the quarterfinals in a difficult three games against up and coming Welshman Joel Makin.

“You can see how hungry he is,” Farag said. “He never gives up on any ball and never gives you any cheap points, which is great to see. On court with him it is never easy and being 9-2 up in the third he still caused me problems. I think the second game was crucial, I think if he had have won that then the dynamics of the match would have changed and I got away with a 3-0 win.”

Farag will face three-time champion Gregory Gaultier, who defeated Egypt’s Zahed Salem in four games to set up his second match against Farag in two weeks, following up Farag’s Oracle NetSuite Open victory in San Francisco.

“I feel pretty good after San Francisco, I just want to save my body because I have had a lot of injuries in the past,” Gaultier said. “I was missing a lot of tournaments last year because of injury and I want to make sure I can play every round. I’m looking forward to the next match and I’ll make sure I do some training tomorrow to get a bit sharper for the next round.”

Wednesday’s first half of quarterfinal play commences at 5pm local time.

View all results on usopensquash.com/2018-draws.

Purchase tickets on usopensquash.com/tickets.

The U.S. squash community will celebrate Women in Sports Day with a panel discussion, reception, player clinics and awards presentations at the 2018 FS Investments U.S. Open on Wednesday, October 10.

The panel discussion, starting at 4pm, is open to the public and titled: “Leave it all on (and off) the court: building and maintaining a healthy body throughout your squash career.” Those who cannot attend the panel discussion in person can follow and join the online discussion with a live stream on the U.S. Open Facebook page.

High school students from SquashSmarts, Philadelphia’s after-school squash and mentoring program and official community partner of the Arlen Specter US Squash Center, will participate in an on-court clinic with PSA professionals at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Following the panel discussion and clinic, Women in Sports Day will honor several individuals whose efforts continue to improve the lives of women and girls through the transformative power of sport.

Julieanne Harris, the Director of Squash at Philadelphia Cricket Club, will be awarded the Achievement Bowl. Australian born Harris, took up squash at age twenty-three. She moved to the U.S. in 1983 with her husband Bill Lane and worked at Western Athletic Clubs in San Francisco and Santa Clara before moving to the Philadelphia area in 1988. She started the squash team at Agnes Irwin School and was the assistant women’s team coach at Penn before coming to Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1992. Since then, she has led one of the country’s most successful junior programs. Nine of her Philly Cricket players have made Team USA’s national junior team and many more have been national champions in singles and doubles. She has also twice coached the U.S. junior women’s team at the World Junior Championships, in Norway in 1991 and Malaysia in 1993.

Alexandra (AK) Frazier will be honored with the Women in Sports Day Special Recognition Award, given for her efforts to support girls’ and Women’s development through sports. Frazier is the founder and President of Women Golfers Give Back, which since its inception in 2003 has raised over $1 million to support girls’ golf programs throughout the Philadelphia region. Frazier is also the Executive Director of the Valentine Foundation, which funds programs designed to make girls’ and women’s lives more equitable as well as fund leadership training for women executives in the non-profit sector.

The fifth-annual Character in Sports Day at the 2018 FS Investments U.S. Open included a clinic for boys from the SquashSmarts program on the courts at the Kline & Specter Squash Center at Drexel. Three PSA players—Alan Clyne, Nele Gilis and Todd Harrity—joined thirty SquashSmarts student athletes at the practice, giving them a first-hand look at life on the professional tour.

The group practiced for an hour and then had an in-depth question-and-answer session, talking about perseverance, match-day nerves and training ideas. Clyne, who attended a similar session last year, spoke about how to handle adversity; Gilis talked about her toughest match ever; and Harrity talked about the players on tour he most admired.

SquashSmarts, now in its eighteenth season, are the official community partner of the Arlen Specter US Squash Center due to open in two years. Founded in 2001, SquashSmarts is a free, intensive out-of-school academic and athletic mentoring non-profit changing the lives of Philadelphia’s public school students. It operates daily out of two facilities—the Lenfest Center in North Philadelphia and Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center.