Silicon Valley Open : It’s Weaver & Makin

FINALS : Weaver and Makin claim the Gold titles

Olivia Weaver and Joel Makin both claimed their maiden Gold-level titles after coming through tonight’s finals to win the Silicon Valley Open 2024. Top seed Weaver claimed a dominant three-game victory over sixth seed Satomi Watanabe, while Welsh #1 Makin came through a gruelling 80-minute encounter with eighth seed Youssef Soliman in four games.

In the first final it was top seed Weaver who delighted the home crowd in San Francisco with a clinical performance, defeating the Japanese #1 by an 11-4, 11-2, 11-8 scoreline.

Weaver said: “It’s surreal that I’ve just won my first Gold-level event. When I started my career, I don’t know if I saw this on the cards, so I’m over the moon. I think with Satomi’s skill, deception, and racket ability, it was obviously the plan to keep it out of the middle and keep it in the corners. I just wanted to play to my strengths and my game. I felt like if I could play to all four corners and make it physical, I stood a good chance, and I’m glad that it worked out in my favour.”

In the men’s final, it was Makin who capped off an outstanding week with a 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3 victory over Soliman.

“It’s massive, I’ve obviously lost in the final of a couple of Gold events, so it’s nice to get one done,” Makin said. “I’ve obviously just gone to eight in the world last week, so hopefully this win will help me go towards seven or six in the world over the next couple of months. I was struggling to find my length today, I clipped the side walls a few too many times, but it was just one of those days where you just have to grind when it’s not going that well.”

For all four finalists, attention now turns to the Platinum-level Comcast Business U.S. Open Championships 2024, which will take place from 11th to 16th November at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.

SEMI-FINALS : Weaver takes home hopes into finals

Two five-game women’s semi-finals saw home favourite Olivia Weaver and Japan’s Satomi Watanabe reach the Gold event final in Redwood.

American #1 Weaver advanced to the second Gold-level final of her career, treating the sell-out crowd within Squash Zone to a gutsy five-game comeback against Sivasangari Subramaniam beore dominating the decider.

“I’m really happy,” Weaver said. “I though Siva played awesome, we always have really good battles, whether they’re three games or whether they’re five. I felt I was edgy at some points and wasn’t quite feeling my short game, but I was just able to rely on my physicality and really just try to make it as physically tough at possible at the end of the match.”

World #12 Watanabe produced a scintillating performance to overcome 17-year-old sensation Amina Orfi in another five-game thriller, progressing to her first Gold-level final.

Watanabe said: “I’m still half in the zone right now. I’m still not sure that I actually won! But I think as I cool down it will sink in for me. I was just telling myself not to rush. I know some players, like Nouran Gohar, when they hit the ball hard, it forces you to rush as early as possible. This ball was quite bouncy, so I was just telling myself to calm down, watch the ball and know that I have the skill to return those balls now.”

In the men’s semis Welsh #1 Joel Makin delivered a near-flawless performance to dispatch England’s Marwan ElShorbagy in straight games while Egypt’s Youssef Soliman in the title decider,  defeated compatriot Aly About Eleinen, also in straight games.

Day FOUR : Seeds tumble as semi-finalists are settled

Amina Orfi, Aly Abou Eleinen and Satomi Watanabe all progressed to their maiden Gold-level semi-finals while Youssef Soliman made it a clean sweep of seeding upsets on  Day Four in California.

In the women’s draw, Japanese #1 Watanabe ended Amanda Sobhy’s hopes of a title-winning return to action on American soil with an impressive four-game victory over the 31-year-old.

Amanda has obviously come back from the injury and is playing so amazing right now, so I knew it was going to be tough. My plan was to try to hit the ball deep and low. I was just trying to put her in the back corners before I went in short, and I think it worked well.”

Orfi delivered a statement straight-games victory over second seed Georgina Kennedy to progress to the last four.

In the men’s draw eighth seed Soliman mounted a stunning comeback as he came from 2-0 and 9-6 down, to conquer second seed Karim Abdel Gawad in a thrilling encounter.

“I know to get a win against Gawad is amazing, especially after the way he started, he was like a storm. I thought that it wasn’t going to go my way, but I told myself to fight. To get this win over him, it meant a lot.

The final winner of the evening was Egypt’s unseeded Eleinen, who overcame French #1 Victor Crouin in three games.

Day THREE : Marwan ousts Mohamed as Quarter-Finals begin

Marwan ElShorbagy delivered a superb performance to defeat older brother Mohamed in straight games and book his spot in the semi-finals.

Marwan, who arrived in San Francisco on the back of a title victory at the Open Squash Classic, looked a player full of confidence as came through the stop-start encounter by an 11-9, 11-7, 12-10 scoreline, notching up a 7th win in 24 meetings.

“It’s mixed emotions really. My brother is the person I looked up to when I was young. I was very lucky to have him because everything that he has achieved is amazing.

“I don’t know how many times I’m going to be playing my brother again on the big stage, so I just wanted to enjoy it. That’s why I tend to enjoy these matches more as I get older and mature more. One day, me and my brother will sit down and look back at these battles.”

Marwan will face Wales’ Joel Makin for a spot in the title decider after the fifth seed ground down the dangerous Abdulla Al-Tamimi in three games.

In the women’s draw, American #1 Olivia Weaver and Malaysian #1 Sivasangari Subramaniam were the two players to advance to the last four, coming through their matches in contrasting styles.

Sivasangari avoided a seeding upset by holding off eighth seed Zeina Mickawy in a see-saw five-game encounter, sealing an 11-9, 9-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-3 win after 55 minutes.

Despite seeing two match balls slip through her grasp at the end of the fourth game, No.3 seed Sivasangari recovered well in the decider to move through to her first World Tour semi-final since her London Classic victory in March.

“I think the last time we played was in the British Junior Open back in the U17s, where she beat me 3-2 and 12-10 in the fifth,” Sivasangari said. “I remember she won the match on a cross-court slotted nick, so I definitely remembered the dangers that she has in her game. I just tried to reset mentally after every rally today. It’s hard when you’re not quite playing your best squash, and I just tried to reset as often as possible and play my own game.”

Top seed Weaver continued her faultless progression through the draw with a straight-game victory over seventh  seed Farida Mohamed.

Round TWO : Eleinen and Tamimi gatecrash quarters

Unseeded duo Abdulla Al-Tamimi and Aly Abou Eleinen scored the first major upsets of the Silicon Valley Open, overcoming top and third seeds Mazen Hesham and Tarek Momen to reach the quarter-finals of the PSA Squash Tour Gold-level event.

Al-Tamimi, who had never defeated Hesham in their four prior meetings, came through a see-saw five-game encounter with the 11-8, 11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 11-4 scoreline setting up a last-eight clash with fifth seed Joel Makin.

“It’s my first-ever win against Mazen,” Al Tamimi said. “He’s been playing really well, he’s been in the top six in the world for the last three years and I’ve always struggled to play against him, so I’m really happy with the win today.”

Meanwhile Eleinen powered past former World Champion Momen in four games, delivering a relentless performance which further highlighted his future potential as one of the stars of the game.

Elsewhere in the men’s draw second seed Karim Abdel Gawad survived a five game tussle with Ramit Tandon while Marwan and Mohamed ElShorbagy set up another sibling clash.

There were two American winners in the women’s draw as all eight seeds reached the quarters. Olivia Weaver and Amanda Sobhy both got off to good starts, American #1 Weaver needed just 20 minutes to get past Nadine Shahin, while Sobhy marked her return to competitive action on home soil with a confident win against Tong Tsz-Wing Tong.

In the only match to go beyond three games world junior champion Amina Orfi came from a game down to beat compatriot Sana Ibrahim in four.

The quarter-finals are split over the next two days …

Round One : Brownell stars on opening day in Redwood

American #1 Timmy Brownell delivered an entertaining five-game victory on the opening day of action at the Silicon Valley Open as he fought back from 2-1 down to defeat Patrick Rooney at the  Gold-level event at set up a second round meeting with fifth seed Joel Makin.

After the match, he said: “I think the match could have gone either way, there were some crazy swings in momentum. But I think that is going to happen when you have both players who are relying more on the rackets than the legs. When I let my hand go, that’s when I play my best.”

Elsewhere on day one of action England’s Curtis Malik overcame Egypt’s Omar Mosaad in a gruelling five-game encounter, saving a match ball and take the fifth game on extra points.

Meanwhile, under 24 hours after competing in the Open Squash Classic final in New York, Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi was back out on court continuing her rich vein of form by coming from a game behind to defeat Egypt’s Menna Hamed.