Yow Ng Topples Top Seed To Reach German Open Final

Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng reaches the 2024 German Open final after defeating the No.1 seed Joel Makin in a 73-minute thriller.

Despite a quick start for the Welshman to take a 4-1 lead in the first game, Yow Ng quickly levelled the match and the pair looked inseparable to 8-9, with the Malaysian winning with a backhand cross-court nick to restore parity in the game. The No.4 seed had the first chance at taking a 1-0 lead, and despite after a contentious decision in which Yow Ng believed Makin’s get went over the court lines on the front wall, the Malaysian converted the game at 13-11.

Yow Ng looked strong as he entered the second game, comfortably handling the brutal physicality of Makin, winning a thrilling rally at 4-2 with an impossibly tight squeeze on the right wall. The rallies continued to be long and attritional, but Yow Ng kept narrowly ahead and won 11-8 to go within a game of a place in the final.

Makin looked revitalised at the start of the third, and after Yow Ng mishit an overhead shot at 1-0, Makin seemed to have the mental advantage as he pushed to a 7-1 lead. The Malaysian did fightback to 4-8, but the gap in points was too great to overcome as the top seed converted his lead 11-6 to halve his deficit.

After a brief hiatus at the beginning of the fourth game due to Makin’s shoes becoming dangerously sweaty, the two players traded points to 8-8. A tin hit from Makin at 8-8 after a particularly attritional rally saw Yow Ng yell out, and the Malysian won two more points in quick successive to take out the top seed.

“You could see that I was trying to contain my emotions throughout the match and not show too much emotion,” said Yow Ng after the match. “Against someone like Joel [Makin] you can’t over attack to the front and today I was really free and I was hitting a lot of shots to the front myself.

“I can’t get overexcited – at the start of the third I got it wrong and he punished me. I had to make sure I got my lines right. At 7-4 down he came back and yesterday he was down he came back and he’s shown with his reputation how tough he is and, to be honest, I think he was carrying a bit of an injury as well today.

“He probably wasn’t 100 per cent, but still it was 75 minutes that shows what a beast he is. I’m really proud of my game plan and how I kept mentally strong, I’m happy with the win but it’s not over yet this week.”

For more information on the German Open 2024 Presented by Sportwerk, visit the PSA website or follow the PSA on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can also keep track of all of the live scores from the event by clicking here.

Results: German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk Semi-Finals
[4] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [1] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-1: 13-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8 (73m)