The Windy City Open 2026 presented by the Walter Family got underway this afternoon at the University Club of Chicago with 16 matches taking place across four courts.
France’s Gregoire Marche scored the pick of the wins in the early afternoon matches as he defeated No.3 seed and World No.4 Diego Elias in a five game thriller. Marche trailed Elias 13-1 in the head-to-head record heading into the clash but stormed out the blocks in the opening game to lead 1-0. Marche continued his fine form to take the second game, sending shock waves around the prestigious venue. Elias showed his resilience from this point and in seemingly no time at all, drew level at 2-2 after a flurry of errors from the Frenchman.
Marche resettled the ship in the fifth game and maintained his focus to then pull away on the scoreboard and eventually sealed the game 11-7 to score a first win against Elias in over a decade.
“I’m a bit tired,” admitted Marche after his win.
“I know Diego is not 100% but he’s been killing me all my career. I think this is only the second time that I’ve beaten him so i had to beleive it could happen again. I just want to enjoy my squash, I’m nearly 36 now, so I just want to enjoy myself. I’ve played this tournament so many times and I love being here but for some reason, I just haven’t done too well on court so very happy to have this win.
“I spend more time on the golf course now so I have to keep my body fresh. I’ve found a good balance between the two and it takes me away from squash. It’s the right balance for me so yeah, happy it’s helping.”
In the other three matches on the glass court, all the top seeds prevailed as Hania El Hammamy and Mostafa Asal continued their impressive form, whilst Malaysia’s No.5 seed Sivasangari Subramaniam showed her class as she only needed three games to see off former World No.4 Nele Gilis in the opening match of the day.
Elsewhere, up at the traditional courts, 12 matches took place across three courts. Former World No.1 and World Champion Karim Gawad narrowly avoided an opening round exit as he saved 2 match balls to beat a last-minute entrant Yannick Wilhelmi from Switzerland. Gawad recovered from losing the opening game to lead 2-1 but was pegged back by the Swiss to 2-2. In a cat-and-mouse decider, Wilhelmi produced impressive squash to earn two match balls, but the experience of Gawad shone through as he booked his spot in RD2.
No.5 seed Joel Makin marked his return to action with a win over England’s Declan James in four games. Abhay Singh scored an impressive win over Fares Dessouky. Whilst Anahat Singh continued her fine form to beat Zeina Mickawy in four games.
The action continues at 17:00 (GMT-6) live on SQUASHTV.
Results: Men’s RD1
Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt. [3] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2: 11-7, 11-1, 11-13, 9-11, 11-6 (73m)
Youssef Soliman (EGY) bt. Noor Zaman (PAK) 3-2: 11-1, 3-11, 13-11, 4-11, 11-4 (62m)
[6] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) bt. Yahya Elnawasany (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 12-10 (36m)
Matias Knudsen (COL) bt. Juan Vargas (COL) 3-0: 11-2, 11-3, 11-9 (40m)
[5] Joel Makin (WAL) bt. Declan James (ENG) 3-1: 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-4 (61m)
Jonah Bryant (ENG) bt. Curtis Malik (ENG)3-2: 12-10, 3-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 (25m)
[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt. Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY)3-0: 11-9, 11-2, 11-4 (33m)
[4] Karim Gawad (EGY) bt. Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)3-2: 5-11, 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 12-10 (68m)
Abhay Singh (IND) bt. Fares Dessouky (EGY)3-1: 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-2 (43m)
Results: Women’s RD1
[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt. Sabrina Sobhy (USA) 3-0: 11-3, 13-11, 11-9 (40m)
Hana Ramadan (EGY) bt. Hana Moataz (EGY) 3-1: 11-9, 7-11, 11-4, 12-10 (38m)
Anahat Singh (IND) bt. Zeina Mickawy (EGY) 3-1: 11-13, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 (33m)
[7] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bt. Mariam Metwally (EGY) 3-0: 16-14, 11-5, 11-7 (33m)
Kenzy Ayman (EGY) bt. Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 3-0: 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (23m)
[6] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt. Nele Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 (41m)
Lucy Beecroft (ENG) bt. Caroline Fouts (USA) 3-1: 11-5, 11-2, 5-11, 11-3 (38m)