SmartCentres Kinetic Florida Open: Hesham Impresses in Win Over Makin

Mazen Hesham secured his spot in the SmartCentres Kinetic Florida Open semi-finals with a comfortable win over Joel Makin. 

The Egyptian endured a slow start to proceedings, making a few unforced errors in the early rallies to drop 7-4 behind, but he soon found his feet and turned the tide. He won seven of the next eight points to take game one, closing the door on a delightful backhand drop from deep in the court. 

Makin was perhaps unlucky not to have been awarded a stroke at a crucial point at 9-8 down, but he could have few complaints in game two, as Hesham stormed clear to win it 11-5, highlighted by a brilliant backhand winner with almost no backswing from the Makin serve. 

The Welshman once again started well in the third, but just as he had in game one, Hesham clawed back the advantage point-by-point, winning 11-8 to book a place in the final four. 

“Of course, I’m really pleased,” he said after the win.  

“Beating Joel by itself is a big win, he’s such a strong guy and he pushes you to the end as you can see. Even in that third game he kept on coming, so I’m pretty pleased that I kept my mental side and my physical side in the right spots, and the 3-0 scoreline makes it even better confidence-wise.” 

Discussing his slow start to the match, Hesham added: “I think he just surprised me a little bit in the beginning. 

“I going a too short too quick, and as you get older things maybe take a little bit more time for the engine to get going, but I think after that I started being more patient, hitting my targets better, moving even better and playing shots in the right moments, and I’m pretty pleased with how I came back.” 

Result: [4] Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt [6] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (42m)