A Pembrokeshire squash player has won a tournament in San Francisco.

Joel Makin, the world-ranked number 8 from Haverfordwest, captured the biggest title of his career at the Silicon Valley Open.

In a hard-fought final, he defeated the world number 11, Youssef Soliman of Egypt, with scores of 12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3.

Mr Makin said: "It's massive.

"I lost in the final of a couple of Gold events, so it’s nice to get one done.

"It’s a nice achievement and a nice milestone."

His recent victory has bolstered his confidence and he hopes to climb further in the world rankings.

He said: "I've just gone to eighth in the world last week, so hopefully this win will help me go towards seven or six over the next couple of months.

"I think there’s a group of us competing between that five and ten spots.

"The top four have consolidated themselves in terms of points and wins, but I’m going to look to try get to five and then challenge from there."

Reflecting on his performance, he acknowledged the challenging competition he faced in the final.

He said: "I knew what I wanted to do today.

"It was one of those days when I wasn’t quite hitting the ball as I liked.

"Credit to Youssef - he was hitting really good low and flat lines, so he wasn’t giving me any balls to hit."

Before reaching the final, the 29-year-old beat three world-ranked players without dropping a game.