By Gareth James
Joel Makin produced one of the best wins of his career to reach the semi-finals of the Black Ball Open with victory over world No 2 Mohamed Elshorbagy.
The Haverfordwest-born ace saved two match balls to win 3-2 (10-12, 11-3, 11-6, 7-11, 13-11) after a 91 minute thriller in Cairo.
World No 9 Makin had said beforehand his aim was to start beating the best players in the world on a consistent basis.
And he was good to his word as he stunned the No 2 seed to set up a semi-final clash with No 6 seed Marwan Elshorbagy on Wednesday.
“You know what it’s going to be like with Mohamed, the intensity is there from the start,” said Makin after a thrilling win.
“He clearly had a set tactic from the start, he was slow balling me and I was trying to do the same. It became a battle that way and the pace wasn’t necessarily fast all the time.
“He is just so hard to put away. He is so tough, so clever. It was a good battle all the way through, I enjoyed it.
“The rallies were tough, they were going on and on. I had to go for it.”
Wow congratulations @JoelMakin superb result in the quarter finals. Good luck tomorrow in the semi final 👍👍
— 🏴 SQUASH WALES (@sqwales) March 23, 2021
Makin, who came through a tough opening match on Monday, now has a great chance of reaching the final in Egypt.
Birmingham-based Makin lost a tight opening game 12-10 but hit back to take the next two in emphatic fashion by 11-3, 11-6.
Elshorbagy responded by winning the fourth 11-7 to set up the decider which turned into a thriller.
Makin got to within two points of victory at 9-8 before his rival went 10-9 ahead.
But Makin then twice saved match point eventually reeling off three successive points to win the final game – which lasted 27 minutes – 13-11.