Abouelkheir Knocks Out World No. 3 Orfi to Reach Maiden Grand Central Semifinal

Egypt’s world No. 8 Fayrouz Abouelkheir defeated world No. 3 Amina Orfi for the first time in her career to reach her maiden Grand Central Terminal semifinal at the Sprott Tournament of Champions presented by Crowd Street Tuesday, January 27, in New York City.

The first quarterfinal saw the two teenage, top-ten-ranked Egyptians square off for the ninth time in their burgeoning careers. Orfi entered the 2026 ToC knowing that a maiden Platinum title in New York would earn her the world No. 1 ranking for the first time. Their rivalry stretches back to the British Junior Open and World Juniors, and has been entirely one sided with Orfi leading the head-to-head 8-0. Until Tuesday’s quarterfinal.

Abouelkheir, who broke into the world’s top ten for the first time this month, set a blistering pace from the onset, frustrating the eighteen-year-old Orfi throughout the match and never relinquished control. The nineteen-year-old booked her ticket to her first ToC semifinal 1-7, 13-11, 12-10 in fifty-seven minutes.

“It’s a huge win this time. I’ve played against Amina a lot and she took two World Juniors off me,” Abouelkeir said. “She’s a great player and I know she’s fighting for World No. 1, the pressure is on her and I had no pressure on my shoulders this time. Today I came with a new mindset and the mindset was I really want to take something out of her as she took something out of me, she took out my junior career, she took a lot out of me and I wanted to take something out of her which I managed to do. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without my whole team behind me–they all have my back since day one, even during my tough losses throughout the years. I’m very happy right now.”

Abouelkheir will vie for a spot in her first Platinum final against Team USA’s Olivia Weaver, who dispatched world No. 6 and five seed Sivasangari Subramaniam in four close games. After pulling off a five-game comeback from 2-0 down in the second round, the Malaysian found herself down 2-0 again against the world No. 4. The Cornell graduate unnerved the Princeton graduate to take the third game 11-5. In the fourth game, Weaver pulled away from 3-all to win 11-8 and clinch a spot in her second straight ToC semifinal.

“Siva without a doubt, is one of the most dangerous players on tour and you can never take her lightly,” Weaver said. “I have played her a few times now this season and I am no spring chicken anymore, so I have to put my experience to use. I am really happy how I was able to hang tough there and bounceback after the third, she is never going to go away, she plays until the end. So, today it was just about finding my targets on the court and staying aggressive, but in the end I think it was my patience that won the match, I am very excited to be through to the semifinals.”

The men’s draw bottom half semifinal will feature the nineteenth career encounter between world No. 2 Paul Coll and world No. 3 Diego Elias after both players defeated lower seeds Victor Crouin and Mohamed ElShorbagy, respectively.

Elias, the 2023 ToC champion, spent nearly four months sidelined by a serious knee injury this season before returning to the PSA this month. The twenty-nine-year-old has showed encouraging signs so far this week, which he backed up with a four-game win against the three-time ToC champion and great of the modern game. Elias advanced to his fifth-consecutive ToC semifinal 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 in fifty-four minutes.

“It’s amazing. We’re also really good friends, we’re really close,” Elias said. “Sharing the court one more time with him is great and hopefully he can keep playing. He’s one of the best to have played the sport and I’m super happy to share the court with him. I’m coming back to match fitness, it’s really tough and these guys have been playing every few weeks in a lot of matches. I’m just getting used to it again and I’m happy with the win today.”