Squash: King maintains hold over Grinham

New Zealand's Joelle King. Photo / Richard Robinson

Joelle King has continued her domination of Australian squash rival Rachael Grinham to eliminate the world No 5 from the Greenwich Open in New York.

King upset the tournament top seed in four games today to advance to the semifinals where she will meet American Amanda Sohby.

The 22-year-old from Cambridge ensured an unexpectedly early exit for Grinham as she dismantled the Australian's vaunted game 6-11 11-7 11-9 14-12.

Ranked No 18 in the world, King is a four-time winner on the Wispa (Women's International Squash Players' Association) circuit, the last of them at last year's Australian Open.

She has had three-time British Open champion Grinham's number before, too, because she stunned the former world No 1 in the first round of the New Zealand Open in 2009 before tipping the Australian out of last year's Texas Open.

It 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 Sohby, who made the main draw via qualifying.

Sohby prevailed 10-123 11-8 11-9 11-7 to book her date against King.

King's progress in New York began in the first round when she saw off her New Zealand teammate Jaclyn Hawkes, who is rated four places above her in the world rankings.

- NZPA