Amina Orfi (Photo PSA)
For the first time in her career, Egypt’s Amina Orfi is the top seed for a major event draw. The 19-year-old became the youngest-ever women’s World No.1 earlier this season, overtaking Susan Devoy’s record set in 1984.
Orfi has claimed three straight titles to start the season at the London Classic, Qatar Classic and Egyptian Open and will be the player to beat on the women’s side of the draw at the US Open Squash Championships.
No.2 seed and defending champion Hania El Hammamy beat Orfi in last year’s final in straight games – a win that guaranteed El Hammamy the World No.1 position for the first time in her career.
The 26-year-old arrives after a difficult Egyptian Open final against Orfi, in which she was comprehensively beaten in under 40 minutes by her fierce rival. Her impressive record at the Arlen Specter Centre, though, reaching the semi-finals or better in four of the last five seasons, will give her hope of claiming her first title of the season.
Situated in the same half as El Hammamy is the home favourite Olivia Weaver. The Philadelphia local will have the full support of the boisterous crowd as she looks to put injury woes behind her and give the USA its first home champion since Natalie Grainger in 2007.
Weaver seems to save her best performances for home soil events, reaching the final four in 22 of her last 30 events in the US, and picking up eight titles along the way. After making her return at the Silicon Valley Open over the last fortnight, Weaver will be hoping to rediscover her best form following injury.
Plenty of danger lurks elsewhere in the women’s draw with Egyptian trio Nour ElSherbini, Nouran Gohar and Fayrouz Aboelkheir all more than capable of causing upsets, whilst Asia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam and Satomi Watanabe are also playing some of the best squash of their careers.
Four-time champion Gohar has returned to the tour this season after giving birth to her first child in April this year and looked in superb form when reaching the Egyptian Open semi-finals by the Pyramids earlier this month.
The men’s event will see World No.1 and two-time champion Mostafa Asal top the draw as he looks to defend his title, which he won emphatically last season. Asal didn’t drop a single game on route to the title last year and will be hoping to replicate that this season as he hunts his second title of the season.
The two primary threats to Asal continue to be World No.2 Paul Coll and World No.3 Diego Elias, the latter of whom recently got the better of Asal in the Egyptian Open final.
‘The Peruvian Puma’ has developed a brilliant rivalry with Asal over the past few years and will be looking to get the better of the “Raging Bull’ again if they do both progress to the semi-finals, where they are seeded to meet.
Meanwhile, Coll, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, got the better of Asal on two occasions last season, both in major finals. The New Zealander has also reached the title decider at the Arlen Specter centre in two of the last three years. Coll is projected to face No.4 seed Karim Gawad if both were to reach the semi-finals of the Platinum-level event.
One of the other form players on tour this season has been World No.5 Victor Crouin, who has already reached finals at the London Classic, Qatar Classic and Silicon Valley Open.
The Frenchman has his sights set on the world’s top three and knows that a strong first half of the season might take him to his highest position yet by the turn of the new year. He’s set to face Paul Coll in the quarter-finals, which would be a fourth meeting from as many events the pair have participated in.
Crouin is joined in the 5/8 seeding positions by World Junior Champion Mohamad Zakaria, British No.1 Joel Makin and the returning Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim.
After enjoying the best season of his career last year, Ibrahim was plagued by a persistent shoulder problem and took time away from the tour after the World Championships in May to have shoulder surgery. This year’s U.S. Open will see him return to the court for the first time since his maiden World Championships final in May.
Aside from Olivia Weaver, there are plenty more home players for the crowd to rally behind. The women’s event features Amanda Sobhy and Marina Stefanoni as well as wildcard spots for Marina’s younger sister Lucie and 19-year-old Alex Jaffe. Timothy Brownell leads the home players in the men’s draw and is joined by wildcards Nicholas Spizzirri and Salim Khan.
