Makin Conquers Coll In Qatar Classic Opener

Welsh world No.9 Joel Makin scored the biggest upset on the opening day of action at the QTerminals Qatar Classic when he put in a masterclass to shock No.2 seed Paul Coll at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha.

Makin had won just four of 17 previous matches against the New Zealander, with his last victory against Coll coming at this very venue 12 months prior, a match which lasted 93 minutes and went to four games.

This time around, Makin was able to get the job done in straight games. The Welshman looked full of confidence as he nullified Coll, and his 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 victory over the New Zealander sent shockwaves throughout the draw. He will play Frenchman Auguste Dussourd next.

"My form has been good since the start of the season," said Makin afterwards.

"I won the British Nationals and won in Manchester at the end of the season, then I reached the semis of the British Open, so I've been in good form. I came up against [Mostafa] Asal, who was in good form, in Egypt, then [Karim Abdel] Gawad put in an impressive performance [at Paris Squash] and sometimes you just have to shake hands and say well done.

"I had a lot of belief that I was going to beat Paul today. I've beaten him before quite a few times, so I knew if I got my quality of squash right then I was going to win. I think if you get ahead against Paul he can get edgy, he stops believing in the process of what he's doing."

No.8 seed and four-time champion Mohamed ElShorbagy exited the event at the hands of world No.17 Fares Dessouky, while the women's No.8 seed Rowan Elaraby also saw her tournament come to an end, losing to England's Lucy Turmel, despite holding a match ball in the third game.

Turmel, who returned to the top 20 of the PSA Women's World Rankings for the first time since April 2022, celebrated with an 8-11, 2-11, 14-12, 11-7, 12-10 triumph to reach round two.

Turmel will play Egypt's Amina Orfi - who this week became the second youngest female player to reach the world top 10 - in the next round, with Orfi defeating Farida Mohamed.

"I was getting chopped really in the first two," said Turmel afterwards.

"It was one of those where I said to myself that it can only get better. Going into the third, I just wanted to try and get back into the match and give a bit of a better account of myself and fight. After the third, I just felt like the match restarted and then the last two were obviously tightly contested, but I just showed a lot of a lot of grit and fight at the end there.

"I just thought about trying to play well, and obviously the last couple of events I've had some close matches against some of the top eight, so it was another go against Rowan today. I just stuck in there, I was in shock a bit at the end because I felt completely out of the match, and then all of a sudden I'm winning it."