Squash: King guaranteed healthy New York payday

New Zealand's Joelle King. Photo / APN

Emerging squash talent Joelle King has guaranteed herself a healthy payday in New York.

The 22-year-old from Cambridge has cut a swathe through the opposition to advance to the final of the US$37,000 ($48,700) Greenwich Open.

She eliminated American world junior champion Amanda Sobhy at the semifinals stage today in five games, bouncing back from being 1-2 behind to prevail 11-7 9-11 6-11 11-3 11-6.

King, ranked 18th in the world and with four Wispa (Women's International Squash Players' Association) titles to her name, will face Australian world No 7 Kasey Brown in the title decider tomorrow.

Brown earned her place in the final with a 9-11 11-9 11-8 11-9 win over Irish second seed Madeline Perry.

The trans-Tasman rivals have played three times on tour in the past, with Brown holding a 2-1 advantage. They last met 11 months ago when the Australian won in straight games.

King has been in imperious form in New York, firstly seeing off compatriot and world No 14 Jaclyn Hawkes before really setting the cat among the pigeons by trumping former world No 1 and tournament top seed Rachael Grinham, of Australia.

That represented King's third successive win over the world No 5, with the New Zealander having Grinham's number in the first round of the New Zealand Open in 2009 before tipping the three-time British Open champion out of last year's Texas Open.

King's won her last Wispa title at the 2010 Australian Open.

Yesterday was a bad day allround for the Grinham clan because Rachael's sister Natalie, who represents the Netherlands, was also directed to the exit door when the third seed was beaten by Sobhy, who made the main draw via qualifying.

Results (prefix denotes seeding):-

Semifinals: Joelle King (NZ) bt Amanda Sobhy (US) 11-7 9-11 6-11 11-3 11-6, 4-Kasey Brown (Australia) bt 2-Madeline Perry (Ireland) 9-11 11-9 11-8 11-9.

- NZPA