Joel Cruises Into Second Round In Hong Kong

Joel Makin comfortably won his first round encounter at the Hong Kong Open.

The Haverfordwest-born player, who has reached a career high 30 in the won, beat local wildcard entrant Wong Chi Him 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 in 40 minutes at the Hong Kong Squash centre.

Makin is unseeded for the $164,500 tournament where he will be hoping to continue his rise up the rankings.

The 24-year-old claimed the biggest scalp of his career when he beat world No 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy at the St George’s Classic in Surrey before going on to reach the quarter-finals of the Qatar Classic.

Wildcard despatched by @JoelMakin …

 Joel Makin (Wal) 3-0 [wc] Chi Him Wong (Hkg)  11-7, 11-9, 11-6 (40m) pic.twitter.com/MQDwHooll8

— HK Squash (@HKsquash) November 19, 2018

Makin’s opponent in the second round is England’s Declan James, the world No 16 from Nottingham who had a bye in the first round.

But there was disappointment for Peter Creed who was beaten in his first round match by England’s Adrian Waller.

The Caerphilly-born player – ranked 50 in the world – lost 11-3,11-7,11-5 in 33 minutes against the world No 41.

Wales’ world No 9 in the women’s rankings – Tesni Evans – had a first round bye.

The Cardiff-born, Rhyl-based player is ranked 12 for the event but she will be looking to produce the form that took her to the semi-finals of the US Open last month and becoming the first Welsh women in the world’s top 10.