[4] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-0 [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (ENG) 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 (46m)
Impressive.
That’s the only word that comes to my mind after the match. I always smile when people say that Joel doesn’t attack enough, that he doesn’t have enough bite in his short game. I beg to differ. He makes me think of Thierry Lincou in a way… Thierry had some great shots, but he was normally waiting for the middle of the second game to use them. And he didn’t too badly, now, did he? World champ, world number one…
Joel played at his pace today. He imposed his squash, his game. And Marwan, if he had some moment of brilliance, some panache squash, fireworks that got all of us in awe, he never found a way through the Makin Shield really.
Joel was always in front, 7/2 in the first game then 11/5 in 15m, then 5/1, a good strong remontada from the Englishman, 5/5, 6/6, 7/7, but Makin scoring 5 points to take a two love lead, 14 long minutes again. And the last one,5/0, 7/1, 11/2 in 12m – that’s a lot of hard work…
Joel will be happy to get away with a 45m game against the home favourite before defying the world number one in front of his sponsor in the semis tomorrow…
Joel
“I’m happy with that, Marwan is such a good ball striker with the weight of line he gets,” said Makin afterwards.
“I wanted to try and match him there today, too often you’re trying to play at a fast pace and get around him, and he’s always dangerous. He might not be in the form he wants to be in, but he can turn it on in a second and he can beat anyone. I was on high alert tonight, and I played a good match.
“I tweaked a couple of things technically and sometimes things just click a little bit. I was gripping balls on the side walls and getting into good positions with my body, which helps to set up the volley. We had to engage in longer rallies because he was hitting it so tightly, you can’t take balls on when they’re on the side wall, so it took a little bit of time, but I was happy.
“You can’t try and get off early because that’s a discredit to your opponent, you have to get through the match tonight. If you can get off without too much damage and before 23:30 at night, it helps. I’m physically in a good place, I’ve got two knees, and I’m going to try and get stuck into Asal tomorrow.
“He’s the man in form, he’s unbelievably explosive, hits great lines, disruptive, and he’s separated himself from the rest of that group at the moment. I’m looking forward to that challenge, I’ve been away for a couple of months, let’s see what I can do.”
Quote to come
