Redwood City: Eighteen-year-old Anahat Singh of India produced one of the standout results of the 2026 PSA Squash Tour on Wednesday, defeating eight-time world champion Nour ElSherbini 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 in just 30 minutes at the Silicon Valley Open in Redwood City, California, to storm into the quarter-finals of the USD 143,500 PSA Gold event.
The straight-games victory over the top-seeded Egyptian — a World No. 3 who shares Nicol David's record for the most world titles — propelled the Indian teenager into the last eight and marked the biggest win of her professional career. It was the first meeting between the two players, and few in the arena would have predicted its one-sidedness.
ElSherbini, a dominant force who has held the world No. 1 ranking for extended periods and won four British Opens, arrived in California as the clear favourite. She left beaten in half an hour.
Singh, born in New Delhi on 13 March 2008 and currently ranked around the world top 15, has risen with remarkable rapidity through the professional ranks. She became India's first World Junior champion earlier in 2026 — the first non-Egyptian winner of the title since 2010 — and claimed a historic women's singles silver at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
She turned professional in 2023 and has already collected multiple PSA titles, becoming the youngest Asian player to crack the world's top 20.
What made Wednesday's result particularly poignant was the identity of the vanquished. ElSherbini has been one of Anahat's inspirations — a player whose career the teenager has followed closely since childhood. "I grew up watching her every game," Anahat said after the match. "We have the same coach, Greg. I admire her and I want to achieve the things she has achieved in her career. She is an inspiration to all squash players."
The shared coach is former world No. 1 Grégory Gaultier, under whose guidance Anahat trains alongside India's squash legend Saurav Ghosal and Stéphane Galifi. That the student should so comprehensively dismantle the master on this occasion is a measure of how far the 18-year-old has come — and how quickly.
The match itself was a study in composure. Anahat dictated the pace from the opening rally, put ElSherbini under sustained pressure with her shot-making and remained resilient during the crucial exchanges, closing out all three games without allowing the Egyptian a foothold. The victory was sealed without a break in concentration across the 30 minutes — a mature, complete performance against one of the most accomplished players the sport has ever produced.
Anahat had opened her campaign at the Silicon Valley Open with a straight-games victory over Egypt's Nour Aboulmakarim in the round of 32, winning 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 in 31 minutes to advance to the round of 16. The tournament, which runs from October 20 to October 24, is one of the premier stops on the PSA Gold calendar.
Now, the 18-year-old Indian will face the world No. 14 Salma Hany of Egypt in the quarter-finals on Thursday, October 22, at 14:15 local time (02:45 AM IST on Friday) in India. The two are set to meet for the first time in their careers.
The rankings tell their own story about the mountain Anahat is climbing: the women's game is currently led by Egypt's Amina Orfi at world No. 1, with ElSherbini at No. 3 and Hany at No. 14 — and the 18-year-old Indian, at No. 15, has now inserted herself firmly into that conversation.
The scale of the upset is underlined by ElSherbini's record. The Egyptian is an eight-time world champion, a tally that puts her level with Malaysia's Nicol David for the most world titles in the history of the women's game. She has held the world No. 1 ranking for extended periods and has won the British Open four times.
For a teenager ranked outside the top 10 to beat such a player in straight games — without dropping a single game, and in just 30 minutes — is the kind of result that reshapes how the tour views a young contender.
The PSA Squash Tour itself took note. During the match, the tour's official social media handle posted: "Clever squash by @noursherbini. She trails 18-year-old Anahat Singh in San Fran." It was a snapshot of the afternoon's narrative: the veteran champion reduced to chasing the game against a teenager playing with freedom and precision.
Anahat's trajectory makes the result less of a bolt from the blue than it might appear. She turned professional in 2023 and has been collecting PSA titles since, becoming the youngest Asian player to break into the world's top 20. Her 2026 has been a season of firsts: India's first World Junior champion — breaking a 16-year Egyptian monopoly on the title — and then a historic women's singles silver at the Asian Games in Japan.
Wednesday's win is the senior-tour validation of everything the junior record promised.
For Indian squash, long overshadowed by the country's cricketing obsession, the emergence of a teenager who can dismantle an eight-time world champion is a landmark moment. The sport has been waiting for a player who could consistently challenge the Egyptian dominance of the women's game. In Anahat Singh, it may finally have found one.
All eyes will now be on the quarter-final against Hany. But whatever happens on Thursday, the teenager from New Delhi has already produced the result of the tournament — and arguably the result of her career.
(Reporting based on The Times of India, Sportstar/The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian.)