Bryant Stuns Makin To Advance To Windy City Open Quarters

In the final match of day two at the 2026 Windy City Open presented by the Walter Family, England's Jonah Bryant secured an epic comeback victory to claim his maiden triumph over world No.5 Joel Makin after 101 minutes of scintillating play at the University Club of Chicago.

In the all-British second round tie, which proved to be a battle of stamina and endurance, multiple three-minute rallies became a regular occurrence, with the Welshman taking a two-game lead after 53 minutes of play.

However, this proved to be only the start of the drama with Bryant securing a signature victory over the British No.1 - winning the third game in 21 minutes. After winning the third, Bryant led a determined performance to overcome Makin for the first time winning the following two games 11-7, 11-5 to secure a third major event quarter final of the season.

"I'm very happy to get through," said Bryant after his comeback.

"I think we played a high-quality match. Joel's had a really bad injury recently. His first tournament back. He's clearly struggling so I won't take it as a full-merit win but I'm pleased to get the result."

Bryant will now take on top seed Mostafa Asal after the world No.1 made light work of India's Abhay Singh to progress. The other top-half men's quarter final will be an England versus France clash as Marwan ElShorbagy and Gregoire Marche both recorded four-game victories over Youssef Soliman and Matias Knudsen, respectively.

In the women's event, Belgium's world No.10 Tinne Gilis claimed revenge over India's 17-year-old Anahat Singh in the match of the day in Chicago. Gilis suffered a shock loss to Singh earlier this season at the Canadian Women's Open and found herself 2/0 down once again in the penultimate match of the night.

The Belgian No.1 struggled to get the best of Singh in the opening two games, losing 11-6, 11-9 within 20 minutes. However, momentum began to shift for the European No.2 in the third game, with Singh picking up an ankle injury that persisted for the rest of the tie.

With issues growing for the 17-year-old, Gilis was able to capitalise and take control of the contest, winning the third 11-4 in five minutes. Gilis then made light work of Singh in the following two games and stormed through to win 11-6, 11-4, securing her place in a second successive quarter final at the Windy City Open.

"I had nothing to lose anyway, I was down and out for the first two games, she was dominating me she was playing really well, I just didn't really know what to do, and in that third all I wanted to do was fight back and don't give her the match too easy.

"I changed my tactic, and I changed my mindset and just went for it and I am just really happy that I found the fire to comeback from 2/0 down and that is what I am most proud of today."

Gilis will take on Hania El Hammamy on Sunday afternoon after the world No.1 needed less than half an hour to take down England's Lucy Beecroft. Eight-time World Champion Nour ElSherbini will take on Sivasangari Subramaniam in the next round after the two top eight seeds defeated Egyptian duo Hana Ramadan and Kenzy Ayman in confident fashion.