Joelle King and Martin Knight were crowned champions at the New Zealand National Squash Championships at the Royal Oak Squash Club in Auckland yesterday.
The women's final went very much to plan, with Joelle King proving too good for third seed Amanda Landers-Murphy. King, ranked number five in the world, opened up early leads in each game and consolidated to take control of the match, securing the title for the fourth year in a row with an 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 victory.
While Landers-Murphy was occasionally able to threaten with her powerful array of forehand groundstrokes, King was ultimately too steady, and controlled the middle of the court too well for her title rival.
The men's final was a different story, with second seeded Martin Knight upstaging top seed Campbell Grayson to win the title. Knight made amends for his loss to Grayson in last year's final, with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 win.
It continues an interesting trend for the two Auckland rivals, with Knight and Grayson taking turns to win the title each year since 2010.
