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- Joel Makin Stuns World No Elshorbagy To Reach Black Ball Open Semis In Cairo
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.”
https://twitter.com/sqwales/status/1374457975998349319
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.
