Olivia Weaver will face world No. 2 and seven-time world champion Nour El Sherbini in a rematch of the 2024 PSA World Championships semifinals following a quarterfinal win over world No. 9 Sivasangari Subramaniam Thursday, May 15, at Lakeshore Sport and Fitness in Chicago.
Weaver, world No. 4, secured her place in a second consecutive World Championship semifinal by overcoming Malaysia’s Subramaniam in a close quarterfinal match up. Weaver, a Princeton gratuate, and Subramaniam, a Cornell graduate, met each other for the fifth time this season in Chicago, with Weaver winning three of the four previous encounters, but Subramaniam winning the most recent in February at the Cincinnati Cup.
After splitting the first two games, Weaver pulled away to reach her second career World Championships semifinal 11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5 in forty-one minutes.
“It never always goes to plan out here,” Weaver said. “There’s always something unexpected that happens, but we prepared really well for this match. Siva has been playing incredibly well and she beat me the last time we played in Cincinnati, she’s been in really good form. I was really pleased with the adjustments I made since last time, and I enjoyed the occasion and being on this court. She’s incredibly skillful with the racket, you have to keep it away from the middle and try and take away her time. I tried to find my lines on this courts, which I think I did well, so I’m really pleased. It’s easy to be hard on yourself out here, but I always try to be critical and not judgemental.”
Last year in Egypt, Weaver pushed the seven-time world champion El Sherbini to five games in the semifinals, and will have another opportunity to become the first American world championships finalist against the two seed Friday at 6:15pm local time, 7:15pm ET.
For tickets and more tournament coverage visit www.worldsquashchamps.com.