Zakaria wins 125-minute New Zealand semifinal against Makin

Mohamad Zakaria defeated Joel Makin 8–11, 11–8, 11–8, 8–11, 13–11 in a 125-minute New Zealand Open semifinal. The eighteen-year-old Egyptian saved a match ball in the fifth game before completing the longest match of the 2025–26 season to that point.

Makin took the opening game, but Zakaria recovered from 7–4 down in the second and then won the third to lead. The Welshman forced a deciding game, where both players continued a physically demanding contest at Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal.

Zakaria, coached by former world number one Jonathon Power, held his nerve at the end of the fifth. The victory sent him into the championship match against home favourite Paul Coll, following more than two hours of sustained pressure in the semifinal.