Joelle King has had an assertive win over England's Sarah-Jane Perry to claim victory at the Manchester Open this morning and gain extra confidence against one of her main rivals for the Commonwealth Games title.
![Joelle King put in a strong performance to beat English rival Sarah-Jane Perry in the Manchester Open final.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/WM2LGKSDKLGWWXJ7MKVKCARDFU.jpg?auth=fbbe17a90cb52d182ce91e1906952dce86184719834cd6539b89591102e62801&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
King, the 2019 tournament winner started the match in good form, finding her targets with accuracy and stretching Perry into all four corners of the court. King took the opening game 11-8 in just nine minutes to take the lead in the match.
The New Zealand No.1 continued her momentum into the second game, taking time away from her English opponent and firing the ball short with pace. King earned herself a game ball at 10-9 and after a video referee decision, King doubled her lead.
Perry had to find something different in the third game to give herself a lifeline in the match but started poorly as King ran out to a 5-2 lead. Perry gathered some momentum to claw back to 8-9 but after a solid rally from world No 5 King had two championships balls.