Joelle King Wins $35K Greenwich Open Title from WSA Media January 28, 2014
- After top seed Camille Serme's withdrawal before the main draw began,
Joelle King was odds on favourite to win her first Greenwich Open
title. King had previously finished runner up at the event, losing out
to Kasey Brown in 2011 and Raneem El Welily in 2012. Wee Wern had also
reached the final stage last year, finishing runner up to Nour El
Sherbini.
King barely scraped
into the final after edging out two of the games fastest rising stars,
Sarah-Jane Perry and Amanda Sobhy, in the quarter and semi finals. Wee
Wern also needed five games to make the final after a tough encounter
with Annie Au on the other side of the draw.
The New Zealand star's
first title since 2012 was almost over when she fought off match ball
in the fourth game but she recovered to take victory in what goes down
as the longest match of her career.
Both players will now travel to Cleveland to take part in the WSA Gold Cleveland Classic.
WSA Final report from Phil Barker:
The final match in the
Harrow Greenwich Open saw two very equally matched players with very
similar routes to the final. Both girls had five set thrillers the day
before so coming into today’s final, the 5th and 6th best player in the
world looked like it was going to be a titanic battle. The packed house
at Greenwich Country Club was not disappointed as both women traded
blows for well over 90 minutes of top quality Squash.
Both women showed why
they are some of the top players in the world, wowing the crowds with
excellent court coverage and gracious sportsmanship. The deciding game
went down to the wire but at 8-8, King pulled away with a couple of
excellent choices of shots to finally get a match ball which she
converted at her first opportunity.
It is the second year
in a row that the Malaysian has lost the final in a 5 game thriller but
hopefully she returns next year as she is a favorite with the Greenwich
public because of immaculate on and off court etiquette.
