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.

The U.S. Open Squash Championships return to Philadelphia this fall, October 19-26, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center on the campus of Drexel University.

Mark your calendars now to witness the world’s best squash players competing for one of the world’s most prestigious titles.

Tickets will go on sale this summer.

Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini and New Zealand’s Paul Coll will both have their names engraved on the U.S. Open trophies for the first time.

El Sherbini and Coll had contrasting journeys to their first U.S. Open titles.

El Sherbini reached her first U.S. Open final in 2014, and fell short in four finals against Nicol David, Camille Serme, Raneem El Welily and Nouran Gohar. At twenty-seven years old, El Sherbini had won every major title the sport has to offer including seven world titles–except for the U.S. Open. Until Saturday night.

The world No. 1 put on a clinical display to avenge her 2021 U.S. Open semifinal loss against Hania El Hammamy to complete her trophy case 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 in thirty-five minutes.

“Hania wasn’t playing her best, but I had my chances and I didn’t want to give her any cheap points,” said El Sherbini afterwards. “I think I played well and maybe that’s why she wasn’t at her best, but she kept fighting until the last point. I felt she wanted to win so much, and I have a little bit more experience than her, so I was more relaxed.”

Coll was making his U.S. Open final debut against two-time champion Ali Farag. The Kiwi reached the final after five-game quarterfinal and semifinal wins over Mazen Hesham and Diego Elias, but appeared to be on the brink of a 3-0 win after a quick opening two games 11-7, 11-7. The world No. 1 started to find his rhythm and dig in, taking the next two games and pushing Coll in the fifth to nine all. At which point Coll won a crucial point to go up 10-9, at which point Farag returned the serve into the tin to hand Coll his fourth career Platinum title.

“I thought I had it after the second, but I got way too excited and saw the finish line way too early,” Coll said. “I thought he was struggling, but he came back at me and his mentality is a joke. I couldn’t believe the way he reset, I needed to be more solid and I needed to finish him. I’m very happy to close the fifth out like that, my legs felt like concrete. It’s nice to play like that after last season. The win is great, but the whole week has been amazing for me.”

The 2023 U.S. Open Squash Championships marked the fiftieth staging of the event since 1954, and tenth anniversary of the tournament ushering in prize money parity for men and women–setting the standard on the PSA World Tour for the past decade.

New Zealand’s Paul Coll dethroned Peru’s Diego Elias to reach his maiden U.S. Open final against two-time champion Ali Farag, while Egypt’s top two seeds–Nour El Sherbini and Hania El Hammamy–will contest the women’s final of the 2023 U.S. Open Squash Championships presented by Truist at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.

Semifinals night staged four world class match ups that put on a spectacle for the packed Specter Center gallery around the Lenfest Court.

The opening match up saw Egypt’s two seed and 2021 finalist Hania El Hammamy record an impressive four-game win over Team USA’s Amanda Sobhy to reach her second U.S. Open final. El Hammamy will face seven time world champion Nour El Sherbini who dispatched American Olivia Fiechter in four games.

At twenty-seven-years old, El Sherbini has won every major title the sport has to offer except for the U.S. Open. Saturday will mark the world No. 1’s fifth final appearance in Philadelphia and opportunity to complete her trophy cabinet.

“Olivia has improved a lot from the beginning of the season, she’s been playing really well and beating Nour El Tayeb and Salma [Hany] is amazing,” El Sherbini said. “She was definitely playing well, but I wasn’t playing well. I don’t know why I dropped off, but I’m glad I came back and stuck to my game plan.”

The men’s draw will feature a first-time finalist in New Zealand’s Paul Coll. The former world No. 1 and current world No. 5 won two five-game matches to reach the final–both completed after 10:30pm to close out the day’s sessions on Thursday and Friday nights. Coll ended Peruvian Diego Elias’ hopes of both back-to-back U.S. Open titles and reclaiming the world No. 1 ranking.

“I’ve had an off-season for the first time in three years, so I put in some work, the body’s feeling the best it’s felt in three years, I’ve put in a good two months and that’s been crucial,” Coll said. “I’ve been planning my season better and having these training blocks and that’s what makes me feel good, I see Rob [Owen] for a week to prepare properly and that’s what makes me feel like I’m ready for an event and I can back these matches up. I was very happy with that and my body’s feeling great. I was trying to be more aggressive with everything I did in terms of volleying. You could see when he [Diego Elias] slow balled me down that backhand, his control was so good and I couldn’t do anything and I got stuck behind him and he picks me off. I was trying not to get stuck there and shift it a bit better than I normally shift it.”

Two-time U.S. Open champion Ali Farag will aim to join the elite club of three-time champions against Coll, but the world No. 1’s path to the final was arduous with a five-game comeback from 2-0 down against compatriot Tarek Momen.

Saturday’s finals will begin at 6pm ET. Tickets are available on usopensquash.com/tickets. Squash fans around the world can watch the action live on squash.tv.