Home Hope Weaver Survives US Open Scare

US No.1 Olivia Weaver survived a major scare on day two of the Comcast Business US Open when she held off up-and-coming star Fayrouz Aboelkheir in five games to advance to the quarter-finals of the Platinum-level event in Philadelphia.

World No.5 Weaver, Philadelphia born-and-raised, had to draw upon the sell-out home crowd in the Arlen Specter US Squash Center to overcome the aggressive performance from the 19-year-old Egyptian, eventually prevailing by a 6-11, 11-5, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6 scoreline.

The result sees No.3 seed Weaver advance to the quarter-finals of the US Open for the fourth time in the last five years, as she continues her search for an elusive first major title of her career on the PSA Squash Tour.

"I'm very relieved to get through that," Weaver said after the back-and-forth 54-minute battle. "Fayrouz is obviously such a dangerous opponent. She's playing really well. She's always tough to play and I knew there was going to be an amazing crowd of support tonight and I probably put higher expectations of myself because of that.

"It [the home crowd] helped me really get the best out of myself in that fifth and just up the tempo, up the energy. It's a late shift tonight and having that energy in the crowd behind you in a match like that can really make the difference.

"I just love playing in front of this crowd, love playing in this venue and I didn't want my tournament to end here. So I'm really happy I was able to dig deep and find a way."

Weaver will face world No.18 Sana Ibrahim for a spot in the last four after the unseeded Egyptian delivered a power-packed display to stun world No.6 Sivasangari Subramaniam in four games.

Ibrahim was forced to battle to the bitter end of her 64 minutes on court, with Sivasangari saving two match balls late in a nervy fourth game. However it was 22-year-old Ibrahim who hung tough to claim an 13-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 win - her first in six meetings over the past four years with the Malaysian No.1.

Meanwhile, England's Curtis Malik continued his superb start to the 2025/26 season with a gruelling five-game win over world No.17 Dimitri Steinmann.

Malik, who defeated three-time champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the opening round of the event, made it two ranking upsets in as many days to progress to his maiden major quarter-final on the PSA Squash Tour.

After edging past the Swiss No.1 by a 5-11, 12-10, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7 scoreline, Malik said: "The quarter-finals of the US Open doesn't sound too bad, but there's no stopping there.

"My arm was a bit edgy in the fifth game, but I just tried to remain calm and make him force it a little bit because we were both physically tired. I just wanted to not come off there with any regrets."

World No.1 Mostafa Asal awaits Malik in the last eight after he ended the run of men's US No.1 Timothy Brownell in straight games.

Elsewhere, world No.8 Satomi Watanabe came through a thrilling five-game duel with Canadian No.1 Hollie Naughton, clinching the match 11-9 in the fifth to set-up a tie with world No.2 Hania El Hammamy in the next round.