Pakistan’s Noor Zaman’s impressive run at the PSA Gold Silicon Valley Open came to an end on Thursday as he went down fighting 1-3 to England’s fifth seed Mohamed Elshorbagy in the quarter-finals in Redwood City, California.

The 22-year-old from Peshawar, who stunned defending champion and world No. 4 Karim Abdel Gawad a day earlier, made a promising start by taking the opening game 11-8 but was unable to maintain his momentum. Elshorbagy edged a closely contested second game 12-10 before winning the next two games 11-8, 11-8 to seal victory in the 53-minute encounter at Squash Zone.

The former world champion, who claimed the world title in 2017, showed his experience at crucial stages of the match to book a place in the semi-finals, where he will take on Egypt’s Mohamad Zakaria.

Noor had registered one of the biggest victories of his career in the previous round, defeating second seed Gawad 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6 in 52 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of a Gold-level event for the third time in his career. The victory had underlined his growing confidence, with the young Pakistani declaring afterwards that he was mentally and physically prepared to challenge the world’s leading players.

The grandson of legendary former world champion Qamar Zaman and the 2025 under-23 world champion has enjoyed an impressive season, breaking into the world’s top 30 and winning five PSA titles. His performances have strengthened his standing among Pakistan’s emerging squash players.

Noor’s quarter-final exit means Pakistan will have no representation in the last four of the $143,500 tournament, which offers equal prize money to men and women. The event is being held as squash prepares for its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

The semi-finals of the Silicon Valley Open are scheduled to be played on Friday.