Silicon Valley Open 2025 : It’s Weaver & Gawad !

Weaver and Gawad claim the titles in Redwood City

World #5s Olivia Weaver and Karim Abdel Gawad claimed the Silicon Valley Open 2025  titles after the pair claimed four-game victories over Sivasangari Subramaniam and Victor Crouin on finals night in Redwood City.

U.S. #1 Weaver delivered a statement of intent ahead of her return to the prestigious U.S. Open in her hometown of Philadelphia next week, capturing her first title of the season. In a match full of momentum swings, the consistent play of top seed Weaver ultimately proved decisive, with the 30-year-old hanging tough amid an ultra-attacking performance from Malaysian #1 Subramaniam.

“I’m over the moon for sure,” Weaver said after securing an 11th PSA Tour title. “I just didn’t really know what to expect coming out here. I knew I had been feeling good all week coming in, but it’s been a while since I’ve competed after the recent injury.

“It was really tough today. After that second game, the momentum was totally in her hands, and I had to dig deep to crawl my way out of that hole. I’m just really proud of myself for digging deep there.

“To battle through a match like that today just gives me that extra bit of confidence, just in my competitive edge and that competitive fighting spirit that I had to tap into today.”

Second seed Gawad claimed his 31st PSA title  after overcoming the in-form  Crouin in four games.

Less than a fortnight on from his shock first-round exit from the Qatar Classic, Gawad delivered yet another reminder of his world-class ability in a high-quality performance which was packed with sublime attacking strokeplay.

 “I’m very pleased, of course. After a good tournament at the Egyptian Open and some good squash, I had a bad tournament in Qatar.

“I did a lot of work with my team, of course, to try to step back and play some good squash. Mentally, it was very, very hard, but I just put it in my mind that it’s just the start of the season. This happens sometimes, so I just try to regroup and focus again.

“The U.S. Open is just three days from now, so I will now just focus on good recovery. It’s good that I have the momentum and the confidence of playing good squash.”

Semis : Crouin downs top seed Asal as finalists decided

World #9 Victor Crouin claimed the biggest win of his career to date as he toppled World #1 Mostafa Asal in a thrilling five-game match on semi-finals night.

The French #1 delivered a stunning performance to overcome the current World Champion by an 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8 scoreline after 94 minutes of dramatic play, joining Karim Abdel Gawad, Olivia Weaver, and Sivasangari Subramaniam in the finals of the Gold-level event.

The pair traded games into a blockbuster 26-minute fifth game, in which both players became increasingly edgy. It was Crouin, though, who managed to pull away at just the right time, moving from 8-8 to victory with three unanswered points.

 “I’m just delighted. Mostafa is the World No.1, so it’s the biggest challenge and I just took him out in five games for the first time. So obviously I’m over the moon and I got quite emotional on court because it’s a lot of hard work to try and get to that level. I’ve been working so hard back at home, and it’s great to get a result like this one.”

Crouin will face second seed Gawad in the title decider after the Egyptian continued his flawless progression through the draw with an 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 victory over the unseeded Kareem El Torkey.

In the women’s draw, U.S. #1 Weaver and Malaysian #1 Subramaniam will contest the title decider after the pair claimed comprehensive victories over Gina Kennedy and Salma Hany.

Quarters : Hany and El Torkey gatecrash the semis in Redwood City

Seventh seed Salma Hany progressed to her first Gold-level semi-final since October 2023 after toppling second seed Satomi Watanabe in four games, while unseeded Kareem El Torkey also came from a game down to beat fourth seed Aly Abou Eleinen.

In a match ultimately decided by fine margins, it was the sublime short game of Hany that proved decisive against Watanabe, with the 29-year-old moving through to take the quarter-final win by an 11-13, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 scoreline.

“Satomi has been playing amazingly lately. I thought if she was to win today, she would need to earn it and dig really deep. I love the city, I love the event and I love the crowd here as well. I thought it was the perfect week to play some great squash.

“The tour is so strong nowadays. There are about 16 players all fighting to be in the top ten and it’s really hard to keep momentum. I feel I’m playing as well now as I was when I was at World No.7″

World #35 El Torkey’s dream run in California continued after he progressed past close friend Eleinen  6-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7.

Despite opening up the match in strong style, finding an accurate line and length and moving into a one-game lead, Eleinen began clutching his lower back in pain as the second game commenced, with the issue becoming ever more apparent as the match progressed.

“Aly has always been a big brother to me,” El Torkey admitted. “We’ve trained together for the last couple of months, and he always pushes me and has given me so much advice.

“I’m not happy to win this way [with Eleinen struggling with injury], I knew that if he wasn’t hurting as much it would have gone another way. I’m not feeling that fire inside me, that winning feeling, that’s not today.”

El Torkey will face Karim Abdel Gawad in the semi-finals  the second seed Jonah Bryant, in three games. The other two winners in the men’s event were top seed Mostafa Asal and fifth seed Victor Crouin, who will now face off for a spot in the title decider.

Training partners Gina Kennedy and Olivia Weaver set up a semi-final date with one another after the pair claimed wins over Egyptian duo Malak Khafagy and Sana Ibrahim.

Kennedy, who over the summer joined Weaver as one of the players working under the guidance of coach Rod Martin, delivered a much-improved performance from her edgy second-round win, getting the better of the unseeded Khafagy 11-6, 11-6, 11-3. Top seed Weaver continued her quest for a second consecutive title at Squash Zone with a commanding 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 win.

Round Two : Malik & Khagagy take out seeds to reach Quarters

Unseeded duo Curtis Malik and Malak Khafagy gatecrashed the quarter-finals after stunning World #8 Youssef Soliman and World #15 Nada Abbas on a dramatic second day of action at Squash Zone in Redwood City.

Malik claimed the first top-ten win of his career as he came from a game behind to upset last year’s runner-up Youssef Soliman by a 9-11, 11-7, 11-2, 12-10 scoreline.

“I’m honestly over the moon,” Malik said. “I’ve been working so hard day in, day out for such a long time and I’ve been wanting to play these top 10 guys and actually beat them for a while now.

“It gives me good confidence knowing that I can actually pull through and win because you tell yourself that you can do it but actually doing it is another thing. So hopefully this is a catalyst to move forward with.”

Khafagy delivered one of the comebacks of the season as she fought back from two games down and 9-6 down in the third to clinch a thrilling win over sixth seed Abbas.

“I’m very happy with my performance today,” Khafagy said. “I feel in the first two games, I was too passive. I was thinking of my injured hand too much. I was so out of balance.

“And then at some point in the third game, I was like, okay, you lost last week 3-0, and I needed to give it my all in this game. That’s what I did and it worked. I’m very proud of the fighting spirit that I have right now.”

The other unseeded player to cause a ranking upset was Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey, who overcame seventh seed Miguel Rodriguez 11-7, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9 to join Khafagy in reaching a first-ever Gold-level quarter-final.

Elsewhere, top seeds Olivia Weaver and Mostafa Asal made seamless starts to their title quests  after they eased into the last-eight with  three-game victories over Sabrina Sobhy and Yannick Wilhelmi.

British #1 Gina Kennedy, however, was forced to go the distance in her match with Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold, with the fourth seed battling back from 4-0 down in the deciding game to edge out a nervy 6-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 win.

Round One : Trio of Americans advance in Redwood City

U.S. #1 Timmy Brownell was one of three American players to claim victory on day one of the Silicon Valley Open 2025 after he held off an inspired showing from local club pro Bransten Ming at Squash Zone in Redwood City.

Brownell, who arrived at the Gold-level event on the back of a career-best title win at the Charlottesville Open, was forced to battle back from a game behind to defeat World #236 Ming  9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6.

“We have a lot of history,” Brownell said . “We played together in Juniors, and he always had the better of me. I thought that the physical side would be his weakness, so I tried to keep the ball in play, and I thought he would drop off, and he really didn’t.

“I had to switch up the game plan, so I was impressed with him, to say the least, on the physical side. It’s a busy part of the season, and it’s where I wanted to prove myself, I want to show that I belong in the top group, and I’m starting to do that right now.”

Fellow U.S. hopefuls Sabrina Sobhy and Marina Stefanoni also treated the home crowd to victories after the pair eased past Egyptian duo Menna Hamed and Mariam Metwally, in straight games.

Sobhy’s reward is a second-round date with defending champion and U.S. #1 Olivia Weaver, a player she has enjoyed previous success against on the PSA Tour, having won four of their six meetings to date.

Elsewhere, Balazs Farkas, Sana Ibrahim and Curtis Malik all claimed hard-fought five-game wins to secure their spots in the last-16.