Squash: Kitchen wins when it counts

New Zealand squash player Shelley Kitchen wins the bronze medal after beating the world number one at the Commonwealth Games. Picture / John Borren.

Until yesterday Shelley Kitchen had managed to take only one match off the world No 1 women's player in five years of trying.

Last night she snatched a Commonwealth Games bronze medal off her, and added an unexpected gong to New Zealand's Games tally.

It was a victory that thrust the woman from Kaitaia into the Games limelight, and it might not stop there - Kitchen steps up as a medal contender in the doubles and mixed doubles as well.

Kitchen beat Malaysian Nicole David 5-9, 9-6, 9-5, 9-2 to win the women's singles bronze in one of the biggest upsets on the international squash scene this year.

"I just wanted to keep calm," said Kitchen. "I had so much support so I just didn't want to get too caught up in it all. I just wanted to stay focused and stay calm and it pays off when I do that.

"To be honest I was complaining about playing [this game] thinking 'oh why do we have to play off' but to win is just ... yeah ... it is just amazing. I can't believe it actually. I seem to do really well when I play for my country. I did really well at the world champs a couple of years ago and also at the world doubles here.

"There is something about having a team that supports you that makes this special," said the 27-year-old.

David, a 22-year-old who won the World Open championships in Penang, is in her third successive month as world No 1, but she had no show against Kitchen's focused performance.

Initially the Malaysian's mix of delicate drop shots and well timed power plays made Kitchen's task taxing. She lost the first set 5-9, and was unable to find her rhythm against the fleet footed David.

But she staged a comeback to take the second set 9-6, securing it with an enthralling winning point that had the petite Malaysian scrambling.

Kitchen then set the cat among the pigeons by winning the third set, by a surprising four points, and set up the medal win by winding up the pressure in the match-clinching fourth set.

"She [David] is such a great player and if she gets on top of you it just gets so hard to get in front of her and I just knew I couldn't let it slip," said Kitchen. "I was just about to that breaking point of not quite knowing what to do. But I just squeezed a few points out of her and that was enough.

"I feel like I won a gold medal, I know it's a bronze but this is just so amazing."

Kitchen will team up with Tamsyn Leevey in the women's doubles starting tomorrow, then play in the mixed doubles with Glen Wilson the day after.

It is a gruelling schedule that will see her playing three doubles games a day until the finals begin.

Wilson has a bronze from Kuala Lumpur (1998) and gold from Manchester in 2002 and is one of the New Zealand athletes with the most medals at these Games.

The duo are ranked No 1 in the competition - one of the few sports at the Games with world-ranked players throughout.

"I have got doubles coming up so sort of straight back into it," said Kitchen. "No celebrating yet, it will have to wait until next week."