World No.2 Orfi Wins 95-Minute Epic To Extinguish Home Hopes In Chicago

Amina Orfi, 18, came through a brutal 95-minute clash with Olivia Weaver to end home hopes at the 2026 Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family at the historic University Club of Chicago. The highly anticipated clash saw a battle between the world No.2 and world No.3, a battle that could not have been closer.

The first game was full of long, attritional rallies with both players trying to get used to the warm court conditions and control the bouncy ball. The pair traded blows until the ball softened at the business end at 7-7. Weaver reached 10-8 but Orfi rattled off the points to steal the 25-minute game 14-12.

Weaver, not deterred by the loss of game one, came back onto court with a steely determination to respond. She ran out to a 6-2 lead, playing quick, accurate squash. Orfi came back to 6-5 but Weaver swung the tide back in her favour to leap ahead and win games two and three 11-5, 11-7. Despite looking down and out at the end of the third game, Orfi found an extra gear that no one was expecting and sent the match into a decider.

Orfi continued to hit consistent, accurate lines to the back of the court, but Weaver had improved her defensive hitting and was now able to counterpunch and earn points of her own. Orfi won a mammoth rally to lead 8-6 but Weaver was far from out of it. The American steadied the ship and found clinical winners to lead 9-8. The score reversed again and it was now Orfi's turn to control the middle. She earned the first match ball at 10-9 but wasn't able to convert. The intense tie-break reached 14-13 after Orfi had squandered three match balls and Weaver losing one. Orfi thought she had won the match but a 'Yes Let' was awarded. Orfi made no mistake in the next rally, winning the match in a massive 95-minute clash.

"It feels great to be in the final. It was such a tough match," Orfi said afterwards.

"I think I had to play against Olivia, the crowd, myself and some decisions too. But I feel like I dealt with it very well and it goes both ways, so I'm really happy with the win and to be in the final.

"I think changing the ball reset me and made me go back to my game plan. I think it worked in my favour and she made some errors at crucial times. I feel very proud, the last two Platinums I didn't have the results that I wanted so that pushed me to be better this week and also being world No.2 gave me that extra motivation to push today."

Orfi's opponent in the final will be Nour ElSherbini after the eight-time World Champion won her 27th consecutive match in Chicago, beating top seed and world No.1 Hania El Hammamy in five games. ElSherbini took a 2/0 lead in just over 20 minutes but was pegged back to 2/2 by the top seed, who looked to be claiming another victory in five games. ElSherbini regained momentum in the decider, maintaining a lead throughout to win in 69 minutes.

The men's title decider will see another major event final contested between Mostafa Asal and Paul Coll, after the pair recorded comprehensive 3/0 victories over Gregoire Marche and Karim Gawad, respectively.

Asal was the first of the two to book his spot in the final, beating first-time major event semi-finalist Gregoire Marche in just over half an hour. Marche had beaten world No.4 Diego Elias and world No.8 Marwan Elshorbagy on route to the last four but came up against a dominant world No.1 Asal who took no mercy on the Frenchman.

In a second world No.2 versus world No.3 clash of the night, Paul Coll faced Karim Gawad with a spot in the final up for grabs. Gawad offered little resistance to the Coll challenge, much like their US Open semi-final from earlier in the season. Coll controlled the contest from start to finish, winning 11-1, 11-7, 11-5 to move into his third Windy City Open final.