For the second consecutive tournament New Zealand squash player Joelle King has defeated the current world champion, this time to make the final of the World Series US$250,000 Windy City Open in Chicago.
The win by King over Raneem El Welily of Egypt puts the Kiwi into her first ever World Series final and continues her run of good form which saw her win the title in Cleveland just over a week ago where she beat the Egyptian world No.2 in the final.
On this occasion King took 60 minutes to account for the Ell Welily who was the three-time Chicago champion in five games 7-11, 11-7 11-7, 7-11 12-10.
"Raneem and I have been playing together since we were 13-years-old,” said King following her huge win.
"She has always been better than all of us and we were always chasing her. I think we bring out the best in each other, we have got quite contrasting styles and it seems to make for some good squash.
"I enjoyed the atmosphere, the crowd was amazing and I just felt really good. I think each match I’ve got better and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said King who will face the tournament seventh seed, but current world No.3 Nour El Tayeb of Egypt for the title.
"I’m like a fine wine, I get better with age! I’m enjoying my squash. At the start of last year it was kind of a turning point for me. I was looking down the barrel of either giving it up or throwing myself out there and it seems to be paying off."
King is part of a seven-player New Zealand Commonwealth Games team for the Gold Coast in just over a month with several medals as their target.
Newshub.
