Day ONE : Makin takes out second seed Coll in Round One

Wales’ World#9 Joel Makin scored the biggest upset on the opening day of action at the Q-Terminals Qatar Classic as he put in a masterclass to shock second seed Paul Coll at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.

Makin had won just four of 17 previous matches against Coll, with his last victory against the Kiwi 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. He looked full of confidence as he nullified Coll, and his 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 victory over the New Zealander has 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 Asal, who was in good form, in Egypt, then Gawad put in an impressive performance in Paris and sometimes you just have to shake hands and say well done.”

Eighth seed and four-time champion Mohamed ElShorbagy exited the event at the hands of World #17 Fares Dessouky, while the women’s eighth 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 today 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 today became the second youngest female player to reach the top 10 – in the next round, with Orfi defeating Farida Mohamed.

“I was getting chopped really in the first two games,” said Turmel. “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.”