Joel Makin Pushes World No.7 All The Way At Canary Wharf Classic

Joel Makin earned the praise of world No.7 Paul Coll but could not find a way past him at the quarter-finals of the Citigold Wealth Management Canary Wharf Classic.

Makin – Wales’ top ranked player in the men’s game and the current world No.18 – lost 11-9, 12-10 in a tight contest that lasted 47 minutes.

The Haverfordwest player had beaten Hong Kong’s sixth seed Max Lee to make it through to the last eight, but was edged out by experienced New Zealander Coll.

It might have been a different story for Makin if he had managed to hold onto  a five-point lead at the midway point in the first game.

But Coll battled back to take the lead, before continuing that momentum into the start of the second game.

Makin, though, recovered to take the second game into a tie-break before eventually losing.

Coll said: “Credit to him, he is a fighter, and he is a quality player already. He is only going to get better. [It was] very fair, and I enjoyed the match as tough as it was.

“I was a bit off the pace, but I knew what I had to do. I just had to stay calm and I started attacking a lot more down my backhand where I was feeling comfortable, and it paid off.”

In the semi-finals, Coll will now play Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet who shocked a seeded player for the second round running by knocking out Egyptian No.7 seed Fares Dessouky.

Defending Champion Mohamed ElShorbagy is through to the semi finals after beating home favourite Declan James.

He will play countryman Tarek Momen who got the better of Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly.

Results
[4] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Joel Makin (WAL) 2-0: 11-9, 12-10 (47m)

Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt [7] Fares Dessouky (EGY) 2-1: 5-11, 11-7, 11-7 (49m)

[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Declan James (ENG) 2-0: 11-9, 11-2 (28m)

3] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [8] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) 2-1: 8-11, 13-11, 11-5 (51m)