Squash Star Anahat Builds On Silicon Valley Run At Canadian Open

TORONTO-India’s Anahat Singh continued her impressive run on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour, defeating England’s Saran Nghiem in four games to reach the quarterfinals of the Canadian Women’s Open in Toronto, Canada.

The 18-year-old, ranked World No. 15, beat the World No. 52 by an 11-6, 4-11, 11-5, 11-7 margin in the second round of the USD 103,750 PSA Silver-level tournament. The sixth seed had received a bye in the opening round.

Anahat will next face Egypt’s Fayrouz Aboelkheir, the World No. 7 and top seed, in the quarterfinals.

The result follows a breakthrough campaign at the Silicon Valley Open in Redwood City, California, last week, where Anahat reached the semifinals of a PSA Gold-level event for the first time. She defeated top seed and eight-time world champion Nour El Sherbini in straight games before rallying from a game down to beat Egypt’s sixth seed Salma Hany 4-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-2, 11-5 in 42 minutes in the quarterfinals.

Her run ended in the semifinals, where she lost 5-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam, the World No. 4 and third seed, in 37 minutes. Anahat had won the opening game 11-5 but could not maintain her advantage.

The defeat was Anahat’s fourth against Subramaniam overall and her third on the PSA Tour. The Malaysian had also beaten her in the women’s singles final at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, where Anahat won silver to become the first Indian woman to reach the singles final.

Anahat has enjoyed a landmark year, winning the girls’ singles title at the 2026 World Junior Squash Championships to become the first Indian to claim the crown and end Egypt’s 15-year hold on the event. She had earlier won two bronze medals at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, in the women’s team and mixed doubles competitions.

Meanwhile, India’s Veer Chotrani exited the men’s competition at the PSA Silver-level Canada Cup, also held in Toronto. The World No. 36 lost 7-11, 7-11, 6-11 to England’s Mohamed ElShorbagy in the second round after defeating Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue in straight games.(IANS)