SQUASH - Kitchen works hard to take national title

Top seed Shelley Kitchen didn't have things her own way in the women's final of the National Squash Championships at the Remuera Rackets Club over the weekend.
It took four games for her to account for second seeded Jaclyn Hawkes, from Auckland. The world No.7 won the first game 9-2, but dropped the second set 7-9, as Hawkes looked to make amends for her straight games defeat in the International Festival of Squash earlier this month.
Kitchen re-established her dominance to take the next two games, closing out the match 9-2 in the fourth. Kitchen joins an elite group of players to win the national title four times or more.
Wellingtonian Martin Knight fell just short of a major upset in the final of the men's championship.
The third seeded Knight was beaten in five sets by top seed Kashif Shuja, who had to fight back from two games down to retain his title. Knight set the match alight by winning the opening two games 9-3, 9-5, but Shuja gradually battled his way back into the match, finally sealing victory 9-3 in the fifth.
Dame Susan Devoy and Paul Steel remain the most successful players in the history of the event with 10 titles apiece.