Mohamed & Singh Make Maiden Gold Semis On Dramatic Day At Silicon Valley Open

On another exciting day of action at the Silicon Valley Open 2026 presented by Oracle NetSuite in Redwood City, Egypt's Farida Mohamed and India's Anahat Singh scored the highlight wins of the day by defeating defending champion Olivia Weaver and No.6 seed Salma Hany to reach their first Gold event semi-finals.

World No.20 Mohamed faced defending Silicon Valley Open champion Olivia Weaver for the seventh time, looking for only a second ever win. US No.1 Weaver is competing in her first event of the season this week and came up against a determined Mohamed, desperate to reach the final four.

Mohamed's aggressive style of squash troubled the No.2 seed from the outset. The Alexandria-born 24-year-old looked to take time away from Weaver wherever possible, consistently volleying and firing the ball short. She established a strong 2/0 lead, silencing the home crowd, before moving through the gears once again to claim the match in straight games.

Mohamed gave an emotional reaction to her win, dedicating the win to her mother, who has been struggling with health issues in recent times.

"The past few months haven't been the easiest," admitted Mohamed. "My mom went through surgery and she still supports me, no matter what. She was with me in the first tournament, even one week after her surgery.

"She believed in me, even at my worst. I knew she really hoped I would win today. She stayed up till 6 am, and I could hear it in her voice when I called her before the match. I really wanted to win this for her. I just wanted to make her happy."

Mohamed will now face Marina Stefanoni in the semi-finals after the US No.3 defeated Egypt's Sana Ibrahim in straight games.

The top half semi-final in the women's draw will see a repeat of the recent Asian Games final as India's Anahat Singh takes on world No.4 Sivasangari Subramaniam. Singh entered her match with No.6 seed Salma Hany riding a wave of confidence after taking out eight-time World Champion Nour ElSherbini in round two - the standout win of her career so far.

Singh came through a topsy-turvy clash with Hany in five-games to earn a spot in her first Gold semi-final - the first female Indian player to do so since Joshna Chinappa in 2019. Subramaniam reached the semi-finals in comfortable fashion, overcoming compatriot Rachel Arnold 3/0 in 24-minutes.

The men's draw saw all the higher-seeded players advance in contrasting styles. The Squash Zone crowd had to wait until the final match of the evening to see arguably the most exciting match of the season so far. No.3 seed Victor Crouin faced Kareem El Torkey for the fifth time this year and they did not disappoint.

El Torkey played sublime squash to lead the world No.6 2/0, looking certain to be moving through to the final four. Crouin had other ideas and after narrowly taking game three 12-10, looked to grow in confidence as he took the next two games 11-6, 11-5 to complete the comeback and avoid an upset.

"He has so many shots and is so deceptive. But I kept digging in and tried not to think too much because overthinking can hinder me sometimes. I had to take a bit more risk than usual today as I needed winners too.

"At this stage of my career, every time I come to a tournament, the goal is to win it. That's the big picture, but you have to narrow it down to each day and get through the rounds. I'd have felt better if I'd got through more comfortably, but I'm through and that's what matters."

Crouin will take on tournament top seed Diego Elias in the semi-finals after the Peruvian defeated Egypt's Yahya Elnawasany with the world No.15 retiring with an injury after losing the opening two games.

The bottom half semi-final will see a clash of youth versus experience, with sixteen years separating current World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria and 2017 World Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy. Zakaria defeated France's Baptiste Masotti to reach the last four whilst ElShorbagy came through a testing battle with Pakistan's Noor Zaman.