King stuns world No 2

Kiwi Joelle King has continued her strong run of form by stunning world 2 Camille Serme in the second round of the US Squash Open.

Serme was the defending champion in Philadelphia but that mattered little to King, who fought back from two games down to win 11-5 4-11 6-11 11-9 13-11 and book her place in the quarterfinals.

The result came after the 29-year-old from Cambridge easily accounted for Milou van der Heijden in the first round, while she entered the tournament on the back of a string of impressive displays that saw her reach the semis at the China Open and the final in Macau.

There was no such luck for fellow Kiwi Paul Coll, who lost 10-12 8-11 8-11 to Egyptian Omar Mosaad in his second-round match, and was unable to follow up his own impressive opening result - a win over world No 2 Karem Abdel Gawad, another Egyptian.

King had been ranked as high as fourth in the world before rupturing an Achilles tendon three years ago. But having shaken the self-doubt that comes with such a serious injury, she is determined to maintain her momentum.

‘‘I guess a few people didn’t think I would be able to get back to that standard after such a major injury and I guess for a period there, I didn’t think I was going to get back,’’ she said.

‘‘I’ve just tried this last training block to do everything as well as I could and give myself every chance and see where I end up and I’m really happy with how the season has started.’’

King will take on England’s Alison Waters in the quarterfinals at 10am tomorrow (NZ time).