After reaching career high world rankings in recent weeks, Olivia Weaver and Timmy Brownell ended their seasons with a flourish by winning the U.S. Women’s and S.L. Green U.S. Men’s Championships Friday, June 14, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center.
Finals evening opened up with the men’s final as top seed and 2022 champion Timmy Brownell took on first-time finalist and two seed Shahjahan Khan. After dropping the first game, Brownell battled back to claim the title 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 in fifty-two minutes.
At twenty-six years old, Brownell adds his name to the S.L. Green trophy for a second time. Just two weeks ago, Brownell became the first American man to reach a PSA Platinum quarterfinal at the British Open, sending him to the world’s top thirty for the first time in his career.
“There’s a lot of history here, I know how much this tournament means,” Brownell said. “A lot of my heroes are on this trophy when you talk about Chris Hanson, Chris Gordon, Todd Harrity and Julian Illingworth. There are also a lot of great names who never won it so I realize how grateful I am to have won it and have my family name on here. It means the world to me. There was a lot of hard work that went into this. I’m just over the moon.”
A new name will be engraved on the Desai Family Cup for the first time after Weaver reached the nation’s squash summit for the first time. Weaver pulled out a close opening game 13-11 and held the rest of match’s momentum 11-6, 11-6 in thirty-six minutes.
Weaver’s first national title follow’s a semifinal appearance at the PSA World Championships, and reaching a new career high ranking of world No. 4 last month–becoming just the second American woman to reach the world’s top four.
“I knew I was going to have to play extremely well–you always do against Sabrina–we just had a battle the other week at the British Open,” Weaver said. “It’s always enjoyable playing her, she’s one of the best and cleanest player on tour. I was honestly just looking forward to a great match on home soil. Really happy with how I played tonight and honestly I can’t believe I’m holding this trophy. When I turned pro I never knew if this was going to be in the cards so to be standing here with it is incredible.”
