Joelle King had to draw on every scrap of her experience and determination to get through her squash singles quarter-final against Englishwoman Lucy Termel.
King, the top seed and defending Commonwealth Games champion, had huge pressure on her – she was the strong pre-match favourite, there was a noisy, parochial, pro-England crowd, and Termel is a fine if streaky player who is capable of outstanding shotmaking.
The result was an epic four-game thriller which King won 9-11, 18-16, 11-9, 14-12. It was a match she could easily have lost and only her guts and determination got her over the line.
The second game was astounding. King led 10-2 and Termel played a succession of dazzling winners to get back to 10-10. There was desperate retrieving, some hotly contested decisions, bold strokes and finally King won it on her 12th game point.
“I was a bit nervous to start with and Lucy really started well,” King said. “I’ve played her four times in the past year and I’ve won three in straight games and one in five. But none of them have been easy – I knew she was a dangerous player for me.
“She came out swinging and it was paying off. I tried everything to shut her down. In the end I kept telling myself to make sure I was the last person to hit the ball on the front wall in the rally. I just kept getting the ball back and trying to make her earn every point.”
King was understandably very proud of herself afterwards. “It would have been easy in that situation to fine some excuses and justify that it was okay to lose.”
The New Zealander said she had played many memorable matches during her long career, but that being in a Commonwealth Games and wanting to do well for a wider team, and for her country, meant the stakes were raised.
She now plays Canadian Hollie Naughton in the semi-final.
In the men’s draw, New Zealand’s Paul Coll, also the top seed, worked hard but beat English left-hander Adrian Waller in straight games 12-10, 11-4, 11-7.
Coll’s semi-final opponent will be talented Indian player Saurav Ghosal.