Aboelkheir Ousts ToC No.2 Seed Orfi To Make Maiden Platinum Semi At Grand Central

Fayrouz Aboelkheir advanced to her maiden PSA Squash Tour Platinum semi-final after ousting No.2 seed Amina Orfi in the Sprott Tournament of Champions presented by Crowd Street at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Aboelkheir reached the last four of a Diamond-level event for the first time earlier this season on home turf at the CIB Egyptian Open, but has now achieved that feat for a Platinum event.

The world No.8 Aboelkheir hadn't taken a game from Egyptian compatriot Orfi since their meeting at the US Open in 2023, and the 19-year-old broke that run to go 1/0 up against the world No.3.

Orfi, who dominated the previous two meetings with 3/0 triumphs, squandered five game ball opportunities in the second to equalise, with Aboelkheir converting her only game ball in the tiebreak to double her lead, and then held her nerve in the third in another tiebreak to close out the match with a 12-10 victory to progress to the last four.

"It's a huge win this time," said Aboelkheir. "I've played against Amina a lot and she took two World Juniors off me! She's a great player and I know she's fighting for world No.1, the pressure is on her and I had no pressure on my shoulders this time.

"Today I came with a new mindset and the mindset was I really want to take something out of her as she took something out of me, she took out my junior career, she took a lot out of me and I wanted to take something out of her which I managed to do.

"I wouldn't have been able to do that without my whole team behind me - they all have my back since day one, even during my tough losses throughout the years. I'm very happy right now."

Aboelkheir's semi-final opponent will be home favourite Olivia Weaver after the US No.1 fended off Sivsangari Subramaniam.

Weaver, who hadn't dropped a single game so far in 2026 before stepping on court today, saw that streak come to an end when Sivasangari pulled one game back from 2/0 down, looking to complete another inspired comeback like she did in the previous round against USA's Amanda Sobhy.

Those hopes were put to bed by Weaver, holding off the Malaysian to win 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8.

In the men's draw, Diego Elias celebrated his 500th match on Tour by securing a semi-final spot following his 3/1 win over Mohamed ElShorbagy.

ElShorbagy, who wrote himself into folklore earlier in the tournament by moving top of the list for the most wins on Tour in the modern era, looked sharp from the off to draw first blood against the world No.3.

The Peruvian, who returned to action last week in Detroit where he lost the final of the Motor City Open to ElShorbagy's younger brother Marwan after a spell out injured, put plenty of work into the legs of the 35-year-old former World Champion by extending the rallies.

Elias, who won the Tournament of Champions three years ago, got his rewards for wearing down ElShorbagy by triumphing 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 in an under an hour.

"It's amazing. We're also really good friends, we're really close," Elias said afterwards.

"Sharing the court one more time with him is great and hopefully he can keep playing. He's one of the best to have played the sport and I'm super happy to share the court with him.

"I'm coming back to match fitness, it's really tough and these guys have been playing every few weeks in a lot of matches. I'm just getting used to it again and I'm happy with the win today."

The 'Peruvian Puma' will lock horns with Paul Coll for the 19th time on Tour for a place in the final following the New Zealander's 3/1 success against Victor Crouin.

Coll, who's never reached the final in New York City, made it back-to-back wins at this event over the Frenchman, winning 5-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7 in 68 minutes.