World No.4 Joel Makin has become the first Welsh player in history to win the SmartCentres PSA Squash Tour Finals after he overcame World No.1 Mostafa Asal in the men’s title decider at Toronto’s Revival Film Studios.
Makin, 30, was appearing in the first major PSA final of his career and was outplaying Asal as he went a game ahead, before building up a 9-6 lead in the second game.
It was at this point that Asal pulled up injured and he spent 15 minutes off the court receiving treatment from the physio for an ankle problem.
He returned to court and played out the second game, which Makin duly won, but shook hands after a solitary point of the third game to bring a premature end to the match.
That means Makin has ended a nine-match winless run against the Egyptian, while he has lifted the 10th – and biggest – title of his career.
What Makin had to say…
“I won a Gold for time this year, silver last year,” Makin said afterwards.
“I’ve just been chipping away. It’s not been a short process that’s for sure. It was a really high quality one, the same as last night. We had two really good games, it was frustrating in the third that we didn’t get to keep going. At sudden death again in the first game, it was really high quality. It’s upsetting that he wasn’t right.
“I’m happy to win, but I want that challenge, I want to win. I want to see how I am against him when he’s playing well.
“I’ve just got to keep chipping away. If I can win more of these, or at least get myself into the semis, then I’ve got two guys to beat rather than being in the quarter-finals and having to beat three guys in a row in the top four.
“I’m going to need a light couple of days after this, I’m a little bit sore, but it’s been great. It’s been another good week, it wasn’t my best stuff in the group stages, but you’ve just got to keep trying, keep on getting better and come out and bring my best performance on the night.”
Result : [4] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) 3-0: 11-10, 11-7, 1-0 ret. (61m)
