Mighty Marche Wipes Out World No.4 Elias In Windy City Opener

France's Gregoire Marche scored a headline win on day one of the 2026 Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family when the 35-year-old downed former World Champion and No.3 seed Diego Elias in a five-game thriller in the PSA Squash Tour Platinum event at the University Club of Chicago.

With Elias still not looking back to full fitness after returning from injury, Marche stormed out of the blocks to take full advantage to advance to the second round for the third time in his career.

The Frenchman took a commanding 2/0 lead, but the skill of Elias kept him in the contest. The Peruvian clawed his way back to two-all but could not match the intensity of Marche in the closing stages of the decider. Marche ran through to 10-6 and took the match at the first time of asking to achieve only a second ever win for Marche over Elias in 14 meetings and a first in over a decade.

"I know Diego is not 100%, but he's been killing me all my career," said Marche. "I think this is only the second time that I've beaten him so I had to believe it could happen again. I just want to enjoy my squash, I'm nearly 36 now, so I just want to enjoy myself. I've played this tournament so many times and I love being here but for some reason, I just haven't done too well on court so I'm very happy to have this win."

Top seeds Hania El Hammamy and Mostafa Asal continued their fine form as they confidently booked their spots in the second round. The Egyptian duo are both bidding to claim their first Windy City Open titles and will take some stopping yet again in another major event.

24 matches took place on the traditional courts with No.4 seed and former world No.1 Karim Gawad narrowly avoiding a shock early exit, as he saved two match balls to defeat last-minute entrant Yannick Wilhelmi 3/2. The Swiss produced incredible squash and even better retrievals to trouble the world No.3 throughout. Gawad's experience shone through in the business end of the fifth as he won four points in a row to advance.

One of two men's wildcards Matias Knudsen took full advantage of his opportunity in the draw as he defeated fellow Colombian Juan Vargas in three games to advance to the second round of a Platinum event for the first time in his career. The Chicago crowd were also treated to three home victories as Olivia Weaver, Amanda Sobhy and Marina Stefanoni all claimed comprehensive wins to move into the second round.