Pakistan’s Noor Zaman has pulled off a big win, beating Egypt’s Karim Gawad 3-1 in the second round of the Silicon Valley Open in Redwood City, California.
Gawad is the defending champion and World No.4, while also being the second seed.
Zaman won 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 in 52 minutes. He took the first two games, lost the third, and closed out the match in the fourth to book a place in the quarter-finals of the PSA Gold event.
Zaman reached the second round by beating American Bransten Ming 3-1 in the opening round. Ming won the first game 11-3 before Zaman took the next three 11-5, 11-8 and 11-9.
His compatriot Ashab Irfan also won his opening match but lost 3-0 to Mohamed ElShorbagy in the second round. ElShorbagy, a former world number one, was the fifth seed. He will now face Zaman in the quarter-finals.
The Silicon Valley Open, presented by Oracle NetSuite, runs from October 20 to 24 at Squash Zone in Redwood City. The Professional Squash Association sanctions it as a Gold-level World Tour event. It offers $260,000 in player compensation across the men’s and women’s events. The tournament took its current name in 2024 and continues the Oracle NetSuite Open, which ran in San Francisco until 2022.
Gawad won the title last year, beating France’s Victor Crouin in the final. This year’s field includes World No.3s Diego Elias of Peru and Nour ElSherbini of Egypt, and World No.4 Olivia Weaver of the United States.
Zaman is the grandson of Qamar Zaman, a former squash player. He won the Asian Junior Championship in 2022 and 2023. He then won the Under-23 World Championship in Karachi in 2025, beating Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey in the final.
On the senior circuit, he has won the CAS International title in 2023 and 2024. His career-best world ranking is 27. The PSA lists five career titles for him.
At the Asian Games, Zaman won team silver in Hangzhou in 2023. At the 2026 Games in Aichi-Nagoya, he won team silver again and took bronze in the men’s singles after losing his semi-final to Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng. Irfan won singles bronze there as well.
