Teenage squash star Anahat Singh loses her semifinal match in Silicon Valley Open

India’s teenage squash star Anahat Singh’s campaign has ended in the 2026 Silicon Valley Open in Redwood City (USA) on Saturday. The 18-year-old lost her semifinal match against Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam.

Anahat started the contest on a good note and took the first game 11-5, raising hopes of an upset. However, third seed Subramaniam recovered in great style and claimed the next three games rather easily: 11-6, 11-4, 11-7. Subramaniam had recently beaten Anahat in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games gold medal match too.

Despite her defeat in the last-4, Anahat had a great tournament in Redwood City. She registered two massive wins against Egyptian stars. First, she beat world number three and top seed Nour El Sherbini to reach the quarterfinals. What was more impressive was that she beat the eight-time world champions in straight games: 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.

Then in her next game against sixth seed Salma Hany, Anahat showed great character and came from behind twice to take the contest 4-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-2, 11-5. The way she upped the ante in the last two games was particularly impressive.

Anahat has taken a lot from this tournament, and going forward, she should be a much better player. She earlier said, after beating El Sherbini, that she didn't expect an easy game against such a big name in the squash world. “Going into the match, I have the national coach of India with me, and he was telling me that I definitely have a shot if I play really well. I have grown up watching every match of hers. We have the same coach, Greg. I admire her and want to achieve the things she’s done in her career.

“She’s an inspiration to all squash players. I didn’t expect it to go like this. I thought I’d take a little while to settle in and understand how to play her. But the game plan ended up working pretty well, and I just stuck with it. I still can’t believe that it ended up on my side of the court. I was happy I was able to get through it.”