On Saturday, February 7, 2026, India’s top-ranked squash stars Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh were knocked out in the second-round match of the USD 260,000 Windy City Open in Chicago. The 17-year-old Indian prodigy lost to the seventh seed and World No. 10 Tinne Gilis of Belgium in a hard-fought match. Earlier at the Squash on Fire Open 2026 in Washington, Anahat won her maiden PSA Squash Tour-Bronze Level tournament and made it to World no. 19 in women’s singles, her highest career ranking.
In a five-game thriller, Anahat was defeated by the Belgian No.1, who staged a brilliant comeback after the first two sets loss to win the match by a score of 3-2 (in sets of 6-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-4). The match lasted for 49 minutes. Earlier in the opening round, Anahat defeated Egypt’s Zeina Mickawy by 3-1. For Gilis, the victory was a comeback to her defeat against Anahat in their previous clash at the Canadian Women’s Open.
On defeating the Indian player and expressing her excitement on achieving the victory, Gilis during the post-match interview said, “I had nothing to lose anyway, I was down and out for the first two games, she was dominating me she was playing really well, I just didn’t really know what to do, and in that third all I wanted to do was fight back and don’t give her the match too easy. I changed my tactic, and I changed my mindset and just went for it. I am just really happy that I found the fire to come back from 2-0 down and that is what I am most proud of today.”
Meanwhile, the British No. 1 will next face World No. 1 Hania El Hammamy in the quarterfinals match scheduled on Sunday, February 8, who defeated England’s Lucy Beecroft. In the other quarters, eight-time World Champion Nour ElSherbini and Sivasangari Subramaniam will play against each other after defeating Egyptian opponents Hana Ramadan and Kenzy Ayman, respectively.
In the men’s singles event, India’s World no. 29 Abhay Singh lost to World No.1 Mostafa Asal of Egypt by 0-3 in sets of 8-11, 5-11, 7-11. The match lasted for 43 minutes. Abhay had won his opening round match over Egypt’s Fares Dessouky by 3-1. On a disappointing note, Anahat and Abhay were the only Indians squash players to represent their nation in the 2026 Windy City Open in Chicago.
