Joel Makin Claims Biggest PSA Title Of Career At Silicon Valley Open in California

Karakal's World No.8 Joel Makin captured the biggest title of his career after defeating Youssef Soliman of Egypt in a four game finale to the inaugural Oracle NetSuite Silicon Valley Open in Redwood City, California.

The Welsh No.1 ended an outstanding week, only dropping one game on his way to claiming the title in a hard-fought 3-1 (12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3) encounter with Egypt's Youssef Soliman.

The match started in an attritional manner with lengthy exchanges testing the defences of both players. The pair traded points until Youssef moved into a slender 10-9 lead. But some dogged determination from Joel saw him start to dial up the pressure on his opponent, forcing a decisive error to take the opening game 12-10 after 21 minutes.

The second game continued in a similar manner until, after some scintillating squash, some aggressive stroke play by Joel, and four game balls, he managed to close out the game 12-10.

World No.11 Youssef bounced back in the third, jumping on the volley whenever possible and pushing Joel to all four corners of the court. Despite the pressure of a 2-0 deficit, the Egyptian remained composed, and as the clock ticked over the hour mark, took the third game 8-10.

After a change of ball for the fourth game, Joel rediscovered his width and length to stretch his opponent and race to a 5-1 lead. As signs of fatigue started to show in the Egyptians play, the British Champion made no mistake, driving his advantage home and converting match-ball at the first time of asking to take the fourth 11-3 after 80 minutes of intense action.

In the post match interview Joel said… “It’s massive, I've obviously lost in the final of a couple of Gold events, so it’s nice to get one done. It’s a nice achievement and a nice milestone. I've obviously just gone to eight in the world last week, so hopefully this win will help me go towards seven or six in the world over the next couple of months.

“I think there’s a group of us competing between that five and ten spots. I think the top four have consolidated themselves in terms of points and wins, but I'm going to look to try get to five and then challenge from there. The standard is so high though with all these guys in and around the top ten.

“I knew what I wanted to do today. It was one of those days when I wasn't quite hitting the ball as I liked, and credit to Youssef, he was hitting really good low and flat lines, so he wasn't giving me any balls to hit. I was struggling to find my length, I clipped the side walls a few too many times, but it was just one of those days where you just have to grind when it’s not going that well.”

Joel has gone from strength to strength this season after returning from injury, regaining his British title and now claiming the biggest title of his career to-date. Well done Joel!

Mens Result: [5] Joel Makin (WAL) bt [8] Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-1: 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3 (80m)

The Women's event was won by home favourite and top seed Olivia Weaver, who beat Satomi Watanabe of Japan 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-8) in a 28 minute final.