Finals: Coll Beats Makin to Retain Title
New Zealand’s World No.3 Paul Coll has retained his title at the London Squash Classic presented by Bassim Haidar after a superb performance against World No.4 Joel Makin at the spectacular Alexandra Palace.
Coll, who beat World No.1 Mostafa Asal to win the inaugural London Classic in 2024, overcame Makin by a 13-11, 11-7, 11-8 victory to earn the 29th PSA Squash Tour title of his career.
Coll came close to exiting the tournament at the second round stage – facing three match balls against Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar – but bounced back in the quarter-finals and semi-finals with wins over Youssef Soliman and Eain Yow Ng.
He saved his best squash for the final against an opponent who would have overtaken him as the World No.3 had he won. Makin battled on court for 80 minutes to beat top seed Diego Elias yesterday, taking 41 minutes longer to beat his semi-final opponent than Coll did to oust Ng.
Coll had earlier seen wife Nele Gilis fall to Amina Orfi in the women’s title decider, but he shrugged that off to keep his quality exceptionally high in his final. Both players rallied down the side walls with immaculate length and width. Makin held a game ball in the opener but was unable to capitalise as Coll came back, and the Welshman smashed the ball into the tin to hand the Kiwi a 1-0 lead.
Makin held a minor lead in the second game too at 7-6, but Coll made the rallies hard physically and took five points in a row to double his lead.
An assured Coll – cheered on by compatriot and four-time World Champion Susan Devoy – kept up the onslaught in the third and kept his opponent at bay to win his first Gold-level title since he triumphed at this event in April 2024. 
“I’m stoked, I could have lost in the second round, I was down some match balls, but I knew the type of squash I was playing and I had faith in that,” said Coll afterwards.
“I felt great and knew I was playing well. It’s tough to come out firing in the first match of the season and he [Abouelghar] was playing really well. It wasn’t that I improved, but I needed to get that match under my belt.
“It can be tough to have a couple months off and then come back out. I’m very happy with how I went through the tournament.
“We’ve [Coll and Gilis] been here before, it’s quite tough but I try and keep my emotions in check. I’m very proud of her, I thought she played really well, but Amina was relentless out there today. I had to try not to get too excited or too down.
“It’s pretty surreal [to have Devoy watching on]. She’s like a super fan, which for me is quite weird because she is one of my idols and a New Zealand legend. It’s so cool to have her in my corner, and she’s such an amazing person.
“All of my boys are here, so I’ll have a few beers with them, but it will have to be a bit tame because we’re heading to Egypt [for the CIB Egyptian Open] in a few days.
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Result
[2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt [3] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-0: 13-11, 11-7, 11-8 (75m)
