Joelle King taken down by world No 3 in semi
Joelle King’s strong run at the US Open squash tournament has come to an end, with the top Kiwi women’s player ousted in the semifinals.
The world No 10 from Cambridge was beaten 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6 by world No 3 Egyptian Raneem El Welily, in the first of the five PSA World Series events of the season, at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Seeded 11th for the tournament, King had been in superb form, upsetting world No 2 Camille Serme in the second round and world No 8 Alison Waters in the quarterfinals, but El Welily again proved an elusive scalp, halting the Kiwi’s quest for a maiden World Series title.
King had admitted to offcourt personal issues affecting her on-court efforts during a tough 2016 where she wasn’t able to make it past the second round in any of the World Series tournaments, but had started the new season in fine style in the lead-up to the first of these big events, under the eye of new Bristol-based coach Hadrian Stiff.
Playing in her third US Open semifinal, and first since 2013, King gave a good account of herself and produced gutsy fight and stylish shotmaking, but El Welily, 28, who was ranked No 1 in the world over the final four months of 2015, extended her unbeaten record against King to 11 matches (nine of those at PSA level), having last met the Kiwi in the second round of the same event last year.
Things looked ominous early on, with El Welily racing to a 10-3 lead in the first game, but after not being able to convert five successive game balls as King fought back in style with some classy shots, there was a little bit of doubt which would have crept in.
That carried over to the second game, where King got to 4-1 ahead, and although things were soon tied at 5-5, great court coverage from the Kiwi saw her back out to 10-6 and then converting her first game ball.
However, despite an eyecatching behind-the-back shot, King lacked some of that explosiveness she had shown just prior, when finding herself down 7-3 in the third game, which was promptly finished off in a rapid six minutes by El Welily, who was back to her first-game form.
With her back to the wall in a must-win fourth, King was forced into a few errors and El Welily shot ahead 5-1, then 8-3, before closing it out in 40 minutes, notching a total of 29 winners to the 22 of King, who made 10 errors to eight.
The final will be an allEgyptian affair, with El Welily to face Nour El Tayeb, after the world No 14 beat English world No 4 Laura Massaro 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-3 in the other semi.
King will now stay on in the United States, turning her attention to next week’s PSA 50 Carol Weymuller Open in New York, where she’s seeded fifth in a 16-player draw.