24 Nov 2018

King through to Hong Kong semi-final

8:57 am on 24 November 2018

Joelle King has taken out Egyptian World No.3 Nour El Tayeb in straight-games and reach her first semi-final in Hong Kong.

Joelle King in white top competing at the Hong Kong Squash Open 2018

Joelle King in white top competing at the Hong Kong Squash Open 2018 Photo: Steve Line/SquashPics.com

The last three times the two have met on the PSA Tour have resulted in El Tayeb wins, with one of those coming in the final of the Windy City Open last season where King lost out in a nail biting five-game encounter.

Tis time the Kiwi didn't put a foot wrong as she nullified her opponents attacking threat to win 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 in 28 minutes.

"I don't think I did anything wrong there," said the 30-year-old.

"Nour and I were No.3 and No.4 in the world for a long time and we have had some epic battles, especially the final of the Windy City Open last season. Unfortunately, I have been on the receiving end of some losses against her, so it was nice to get the win and most of all come out and play some good squash.

"I felt like I did a lot of good things over the summer, but they haven't come to fruition, so to see that come through on court today is really pleasing.

"I just came in with a really relaxed attitude. I have been at home in New Zealand and I think the lifestyle there has kind of rubbed off on me and I came into this tournament really fresh."

King will now face Sarah-Jane Perry who beat top seed Nour El Sherbini. Perry and King have had an interesting rivalry with the Englishwoman winning the last time they played in San Francisco in September, however the Kiwi still has a 5-1 win-loss record including the Commonwealth Games final.

"she (Perry) has had two tough matches and she has somehow found a way to come back and win. There's no way you can take her lightly, so I have to do everything I can to recover and come back and play well again tomorrow.

"Mentally she is such a tough player. We have had some big battles over the years and I guess the biggest one to date was in the Commonwealth Games final, so we will both be coming out to try and make the final."

For fellow Kiwi Paul Coll a win in the quarter-finals was a step too far as he once again found himself up against the world No.1 and defending Hong Kong champion, Mohamed ElShorbagy.

Coll started brightly to open up a one game lead, however, the world No.1 responded to the pressure put on him to level the scores in the second.