New Zealand squash player Joelle King has won the Manchester Open, beating top seed Sarah-Jane Perry of England 3-0 in the final.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
It is a morale-boosting victory for King as she came up against some of her main rivals for the Commonwealth Games title.
King, the 2019 tournament winner started the match in good form, finding her targets with accuracy and stretching Perry into all four corners of the court. King took the opening game 11-8 in just nine minutes to take the lead in the match.
The New Zealand No.1 continued the momentum into the second game, taking time away from her English opponent and firing the ball short with pace. King earned herself a game ball at 10-9 and after a video referee decision, King doubled her lead.
Perry had to find something different in the third game to give herself a lifeline in the match but started poorly as King ran out to a 5-2 lead. Perry gathered some momentum to claw back to 8-9 but after a solid rally from world No 5 King had two championships balls. She converted at the first time of asking to win her second Manchester Open title 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 in 41 minutes.
"I'm actually quite emotional," admitted King afterwards. "It's been a long time since I won an event, a lot has happened in my life since then. I've been through a lot of downs and to be at this point winning a tournament against the calibre of players we have on tour means so much. It's nice to have so much support, some of my team aren't here and my body is in bits so it's just so nice and emotional," said the 33-year-old from the Waikato.
"It's been three years since I've seen anyone in my family, and I love them, this is what all the sacrifices are for. I wanted to give my squash everything that I have and this one is for them and to everyone who stood by me. When you're doing well there's so many friends and people but it's those that are there when things aren't doing so well that mean so much," said King who will return home for the first time in three years for the NZ Championships at the beginning of July.
"Everyone has the World Championships at the top of their minds. I'm choosing to miss the other tournaments to be at my best for that but everyone will go about it in different ways so let's see what happens."
The World Championships are 13-22 May in Cairo, Egypt.