Both New Zealand women bowed out of the Commonwealth Games womens singles squash quarter-finals today, but Joelle King excited Kiwi supporters with a top-class performance against world No 4 Alison Waters of England.
King went within a whisker of pulling off an upset, but Jaclyn Hawkes found the going too tough against second seeded Englishwoman Jenny Duncalf.
Seeded 12th, King had the job ahead of her against Waters, the third seed in the singles in Delhi.
But King, who has improved rapidly this year to earn a world high ranking of 20th, battled all the way and Waters was mighty relieved to finally win 12-10, 9-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-2.
King, from Cambridge, was unlucky to lose the first game after leading 8-7, but showed her fighting qualities to win very close second and fourth games.
She impressed with her court coverage and rock-solid backhand. Waters caught her several times with clever crosscourt angles and ran away with the fifth game against a tiring King.
Even so, it has been a good tournament for the 21-year-old New Zealander, who won her first national crown last month. She has exceeded her seeding and hinted that she has the potential to rise considerably further in the world rankings.
Obviously Im very disappointed now, but I think looking ahead there will be a lot of positives to take out of that match, said King. I played her earlier this year and she won 3-0, and today I felt right up to her standard.
I dont know what happened in the fifth. I might have got a bit over-excited and got ahead of myselfa bit of inexperience I think. I certainly dont think I lost it on physical condition.
Hawkes, the second seed, looked slightly tentative and went down to Duncalf 11-8, 11-4, 12-10 in 36 minutes.
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