Hania El Hammamy (Photo PSA)
Women’s top seed Hania El Hammamy is the player to beat in the women’s game at the moment, the World No.2 is yet to taste defeat so far this season, winning nine matches in a row to win both the Egyptian Open and Qatar Classic.
A first U.S Open title would give El Hammamy enough points to move to within 0.5 points on her average of Nouran Gohar – who is currently away from the tour through personal reasons.
El Hammamy’s two main rivals for the title are World No.3 Amina Orfi and 2023 champion Nour ElSherbini. Orfi is another who has been in terrific form this season and after rising above ElSherbini to move to World No.3, will be full of confidence as she hunts a first major title.
Last year’s runner-up ElSherbini will be desperate to claim a second U.S Open title next week in Philadelphia as she looks to regain her top form.
In men’s draw, World No.1 Mostafa Asal tops the draw as he targets a second U.S. Open title of his career.
In 2021, Asal became the event’s youngest-ever male champion after coming from 2-0 down against Tarek Momen to win his first Platinum title on the PSA Squash Tour.
This time around, Asal is seeded to face three-time winner Mohamed ElShorbagy in the quarter-finals, whilst potentially renewing his rivalry with No.4 seed Joel Makin in the semi-finals.
Makin and Asal played out two fiery contests in the latter stages of the 2024/25 season, with Makin getting his revenge for a British Open semi-final defeat by getting the better of the World Champion in the final of the PSA Squash Tour Finals – the Welshman’s first-ever major title win.
The 30-year-old was on the heels of No.2 seed Paul Coll but having seen the Kiwi pull away, he’s now losing over his shoulder with Silicon Valley Open Champion Karim Abdel Gawad breathing down his neck.
Former World Champions Gawad and Mohamed ElShorbagy bring an abundance of experience to the men’s draw as No.5 and No.6 seeds, while Egyptian duo Youssef Soliman and Youssef Ibrahim round out the top eight seedings.
USA quartet Alexander Dartnell, Salim Khan, Sabrina Sobhy and Lucie Stefanoni will look to give the home crowds plenty to cheer about after being handed Wildcard positions in the event.
