Welsh Squash Ace Joel Joins World’s Best In Qatar

Welshman Joel Makin has muscled his way into the Qatar Classic last eight and will play Egyptian Tarek Momen.

On the fourth day of play at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Makin took his place among the quarter-finalists.

The man from Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, won 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 8-3 (retired) against French ace Mathieu Castagnet, while third seed Momen won against England’s James Willstrop 7-11, 11-0, 11-1, 11-7 in 39 minutes.

Seven of the top eight seeds were joined by Wales’ Joel Makin in the Qatar Classic quarter-finals.

The afternoon session in Doha produced rapid wins for Paul Coll, Diego Elias and defending champion Mohamed Elshorbagy, while Simon Rosner fended off in-form Tom Richards in four close games.

Mohamed ElShorbagy on the way to victory against Adrian Waller.

The evening session started with 2016 finalist Momen coming from a game down to beat former champion James Willstrop.

Makin was in control of his match against Castagnet from the outset, showing impressive recovery and tenacity as he out-worked the Frenchman during the first two games. 

Castagnet found his range in the third to get a foothold on the scoreboard, but pulled up at the midway point of the fourth game to hand Makin safe passage to his first ever major tournament quarter-final.

“To reach the quarter-finals for the first time is massive achievement,” said Makin. “I hadn’t gone past a first round before the start of the season so to see the hard work that’s been put in over the summer pray off so quickly is really pleasing.

“It’s massive to be there for the first time and I’m excited to be in the latter stages of one of the biggest tournaments on the calendar.

“There hasn’t been a secret change.It just feels like the accumulation of years of work coming together. I feel like I’ve been gradually increasing my level and because of that I’ve been able to impose my game and my physicality on court better so hopefully I can keep going that way.

A moment on court between Mathieu Castagnet and Welshman Joel Makin.

“I’ve had a good few weeks and some good results so I’m looking forward to playing again and seeing what I can do.”

Makin will go up against 2017 tournament runner-up and World number four Tarek Momen for a place in the semi-finals after the Egyptian defeated England’s former World number one James Willstrop.

Results – 2018 Qatar Classic: third round

[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egypt) bt Adrian Waller (England) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 (31m)

[8] Diego Elias (Peru) bt Mazen Hesham (Egypt) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (36m)

[7] Paul Coll (New Zealand) bt Borja Golan (Spain) 3-0: 11-3, 12-10, 3-0 retired (26m)

[4] Simon Rцsner (Germany) bt Tom Richards (England) 3-1: 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7 (45m)

[3] Tarek Momen (Egypt) bt James Willstrop (England) 3-1: 7-11, 11-0, 11-1, 11-7 (39m)

Joel Makin (Wales) bt Mathieu Castagnet (France) 3-1: 11-4, 11-8, 7-11, 8-3 retired (60m)

[6] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egypt) bt Declan James (England) 3-2: 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-2 (72m)

[2] Ali Farag (Egypt) bt Saurav Ghosal (India) 3-0: 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 (39m)

Draw – 2018 Qatar Classic quarter-finals

[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egypt) v [8] Diego Elias (Peru) 

[7] Paul Coll (New Zealand) v [4] Simon Rцsner (Germany)

[3] Tarek Momen (Egypt) v Joel Makin (Wales) 

[6] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egypt) v [2] Ali Farag (Egypt)