New Zealand’s two leading squash players had to wait a long time to get on court, but made no mistake in their singles quarter-finals this evening.
Joelle King, seeded second in the women’s singles, faced eighth seed Joshna Chinappa of India and was especially severe.
King, 29, won 11-3, 11-6, 11-9 to reach the semi-finals. She meets Malaysian legend Nicol David, who saved two match points to book her meeting with King.
Paul Coll, the second seed but favourite in the men’s singles, did not finally get on court until 10.45pm, and wasted no time in attacking Englishman Daryl Selby, the fifth seed.
Coll never seems to have a quick match, but he doesn’t mind – he has the speed and fitness to handle marathon encounters.
Against Selby he soon took the first two games 11-5, 11-9, but the Englishman fought back to take the third 11-5. Coll won the fourth comfortably 11-5, securing the final point when Selby was penalised for dissent. The match took 77 minutes and did not finish until after midnight.
In his semi-final Coll plays Welshman Joel Makin.