RESULTS: Champion Fiberglass Women's Texas Squash Open, Houston, USA
Semi-finals:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) bt Low Wee Wern (MAS) 12-10, 11-8, 11-7
Joelle King (NZL) bt [6] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (ENG) 11-1, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7
Unseeded New Zealander Joelle King reached the biggest WISPA World Tour squash final of her life when she defeated England's Dominique Lloyd-Walter in the semi-finals of the Champion Fiberglass Women's Texas Open to record her third successive upset in the $26,700 event at The Downtown Club at the Met in Houston, USA.
The 21-year-old outsider from the North Island town of Cambridge took off on her 'Texas massacre' by beating fourth seed Tania Bailey – then upended fifth-seeded Australian Donna Urquhart, again in straight games, to reach the semi-finals.
King overwhelmed Dominique Lloyd-Walter in the first two games before the sixth seed from England battled back in the third to reduce the deficit.
But the Kiwi had her sights on the final – and went on to win 11-1, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 to reach the sixth Tour final of her career.
King now has the event's biggest hurdle to overcome in top seed Rachael Grinham. The 2004 champion from Australia had to be at her best to fight off the challenge of Low Wee Wern, the unseeded Malaysian who took out third seed Jaclyn Hawkes to make the last four.
The experienced Queenslander, a former world number one and world champion, maintained her focus throughout, beating the 19-year-old from Penang 12-10, 11-8, 11-7 to reach the 55th WISPA Tour final of her career.
Joelle King's unexpected appearance in the Houston final will lead to her withdrawal from the qualifying competition for the Cayman Islands Open, the third WISPA Gold event of the year which gets underway today in Grand Cayman.
But while King will continue her role as 'underdog' in the final, the Kiwi will be comforted by the fact that she beat Grinham in their last meeting, in the NZ Open last August – and will look forward to becoming the first NZ winner in Texas since her illustrious compatriot Carol Owens in the first two events in 2002 and 2003.