[2] Joel Makin (Wal) 3-1 [5] Youssef Ibrahim (Egy) 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 (75m)
Final : Makin beats Ibrahim in 75 minute epic
Wales’ Joel Makin claimed the 2025 Pittsburgh Open title after beating Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim in a 75-minute thriller at Steel City Squash in Pennsylvania.
The match started with a brutal 27-minute first game that saw long, punishing rallies for the two players as both looked to play balls to the back of the court. The score went point for point to 9-9, but a well-placed forehand drop from Ibrahim and an uncharacteristic error from the Welshman gave the Egyptian the lead.
Despite losing the game, the tiring nature of it played into Makin’s hands, and the World No.5 continued with the tempo that he set, while Ibrahim looked to finish rallies quicker, leading to a succession of errors and strokes in the middle of the game that ultimately proved to be the difference as the Welshman levelled.
Ibrahim stormed to an 8-4 lead in the third game, finding his targets well across the court to stretch Makin, but the Welshman rallied, finding winners of his own as well as neutralising Ibrahim’s shot-making with some incredible gets. The second seed pushed on to level the game at 9-9 before winning 11-9 to take the lead.
From there, Makin was in command, and while Ibrahim continued to find some unbelievable winners, the Welshman pushed on from an early 5-1 lead to win 11-7 and claim the title.
“It was a tough week. Youssef was playing some great stuff there. Same as yesterday. If he’s beating Diego 3-0 then that’s a very very high level so I was well aware of that today. I was happy with my lines, happy with my quality and you know it was 1-1 and it being 45 minutes I just thought that this has been a good quality match. Nothing needed to change, just a few things tidied up and I was happy to pull away in the end.”
The next major PSA event is the $100k Gold Cotidie Texas Open in Houston, starting on Tuesday 18th Feb.
Semis : Ibrahim downs world champ Elias to set up final against Makin
A massive shock result in the Pittsburgh Open semi-finals saw fifth seed Youssef Ibrahim overcome World Champion and top seed Diego Elias, while second seed Joel Makin takes the second final spot after a straight-game victory over third seed Youssef Soliman.
Ibrahim, a match-up in which the Egyptian had never before come out on top. Elias looked strong in his early rounds, with straight-game wins over Ramit Tandon and Sebastien Bonmalais, while Ibrahim has won both his matches in four games, against Moustafa ElSirty and fourth seed Victor Crouin.
The match started with both players evenly-matched, although the Peruvian held a slim lead. Elias earned himself three game balls, but Ibrahim reacted well, finding his targets and scoring five successive points to claim the first game on his first opportunity after 19 minutes.
Ibrahim dominated the match from there against his Peruvian opponent, taking a resounding 9-1 lead in the second game and a 9-3 advantage in the third game, converting both comfortably to claim a place in his second World-Event final.
Ibrahim said: I’m very happy, very very happy. The first game was very tough physically. The environment is incredibly hot here tonight. It was tough physically for both of us. I felt like the beginning of the second game was very important and the ball had softened up a little bit so I tried to use my attacking into the front a bit more often.
In the second semi-final of the day, second seed Makin won out after a confident performance against Egypt’s Soliman. In typical Makin fashion, the rallies were long and tiring, but the Welshman was being rewarded with point-after point as claimed victory in three games after 56 minutes.
Quarters : Ibrahim beats Crouin to join top three seeds in semis
In an action-packed set of Pittsburgh Open quarter-finals played at the Rivers Club in Pennsylvania, Egypt’s Youssef Soliman came out on top after saving three match balls in a testing 74-minute five-setter with Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann, while fifth seed Youssef Ibrahim defeated fourth seed Victor Crouin after an exciting clash.
World Champion Diego Elias claimed his spot in the semi-finals with a three-game victory over France’s Bonmalais, while second seed Joel Makin also progressed to the semi-finals after Scotland’s Greg Lobban retired injured at the end of the second game.
Round Two : Top eight seeds through to Pittsburgh quarters
France’s Sebastien Bonmalais staged comebacks in both game one and four against Karim El Hammamy to claim his place in the quarter-finals, while seventh seed Greg Lobban recovered from a 1-0 deficit to beat Velavan Senthilkumar on a entertaining day of second-round action at the Pittsburgh Open in Pennsylvania.
All seeds progressed to the quarters including France’s Victor Crouin, Peru’s Diego Elias, Wales’ Joel Makin and Switzerland’s Dimitri Steinmann who all came through their matches in straight games.
Moustafa Elsirty, Yannick Wilhelmi and Baptiste Masotti claimed entertaining five-game wins on the opening day of the Pittsburgh Open, as the Silver-level event got underway in Pennsylvania.
In the opening match on Court 3, Egypt’s Elsirty came back from two games down to beat former compatriot Omar Mosaad. Switzerland’s Wilhelmi came out on top of a close five-game battle with Hungary’s Farkas Balazs to claim his place in the second round, while France’s Masotti overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat England’s Jonah Bryant.
Other winners on day one included Colombia’s Juan Vargas, India’s Velavan Senthilkumar, and Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar, who all came through their respective bouts in four games.
