British No.1 Joel Makin Fights Back To Reach British Open Semis

British No.1 and world No.4 Joel Makin fought back from a game down to reach the semi-finals of the GillenMarkets British Open for the second time in his career as the Wales-born Birmingham local downed France's Victor Crouin in a thriller at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Makin, a graduate of the University of Birmingham and a resident of the city for the last 12 years, got off to a troubled start as French world No.13 Crouin controlled proceedings early to take the opening game 11-7.

The Welshman, famed for his grit and regarded as one of the fittest players on the PSA Squash Tour, dug in well, though, wearing Crouin down with punishing rallies as he completed the turnaround with 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 wins.

Speaking afterwards, Makin admitted to having taken umbrage with Crouin's conduct on court: "I can't lose to a man who fist pumps at 0-0 in the first game! Not my kind of thing that, it got my adrenaline up!"

Makin will take on defending champion, world No.1 and current World Champion Mostafa Asal of Egypt after the 24-year-old overcame compatriot Youssef Ibrahim in straight games.

In the women's event, 17-year-old Amina Orfi, playing in her first ever British Open, will take on world No.1 and defending champion Nouran Gohar after coming through a testing encounter with Malaysian world No.9 Sivasangari Subramaniam.

World No.5 Orfi dominated the opening game 11-2 only to be pegged back 4-11 in game two. The Egyptian, who had to miss her high school graduation to compete this week in Birmingham, soon regained her composure, though, taking two hard-fought wins 11-7, 11-9 to reach the last four.

Gohar, meanwhile, fired past Belgian world No.6 Tinne Gilis in straight games as the Egyptian aims to win her third British Open title.