Joelle King's crushing win of fourth-seed Hania El Hammamy has seen the Kiwi squash ace advance to the semi-finals of the Black Ball Open in Cairo.
King was at the top of her game, nullifying El Hammamy's vaunted attacking game, scoring an 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 win.
King controlled the action throughout, and only trailed in the second game, before overhauling El Hammamy 11-9. The third game was much of the same, as King forced several mistakes from her Egyptian opponent.
"Hania is class, there’s no doubt she’s a class player," said the 32-year-old King afterwards.
"I'm ecstatic with that performance and to beat a player like her in three but the job’s not done, so I don’t want to relax too much and get too excited when I’ve got another match to play.
"It’s a good feeling but I just feel like it’s not done yet.
"I'm going to go and get some treatment, go back and relax.
"Talk to my team because they’re the people that are behind all of this for the last two years and have been picking me up when things haven’t been so good.
"I’m proud of the courage I had tonight to come out and express myself on court and fight until the last point. It’s a pretty good win.
"There’s been so many people that have been messaging me as I’ve been playing better and better and have kept the faith.
"Thank you to everyone back home that have stuck with me and hopefully there’s more to come."
King will play either world No.1 Nour El Sherbini (Egypt) or No.6 Sarah-Jane Perry (England) for a place in the final.
