Squash: Two finals beckon King

World number 9 ranked squash player Joelle King will be in Rotorua at the weekend for the Geyser City Squash Club Open.

One OF the world's top 10 squash players will be in Rotorua at the weekend for the Geyser City Squash Club Open.

World No9, Waikato's Joelle King, will play in both the women's and men's competitions.

"Potentially she'll have two finals on Sunday," said the club's outgoing captain and organiser Sue Bedford. "It's not unusual for her because she's such an athlete but it doesn't happen that often."

A year and a half on from an achilles rupture, King, the former world No.4, has made numerous steps in the right direction and breaking back into the top 10 earlier this month is as important as any of them.

King represented New Zealand at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Since the injury she has claimed the Australian Open title, the New Zealand Senior Women's Individual title, was part of the winning Waikato Women's Senior Inter-District Team and was runner up at the Carol Weymuller tournament.

King will head the seeds for the women's competition with Tauranga's Ben Grindrod the top men's seed.

Rotorua player Amanda Landers-Murphy will head the list of challengers for the women's title and will also join King in the men's competition.

Landers-Murphy (24) has reached a world ranking of 35 and currently sits at 49. She also played in the Glasgow Games and has been to two world teams championships in France in 2012 and Canada in 2014.

She has never beaten King.

"Basically I've just got to think one game at a time. I'd love to play Joelle and have another shot at her. Obviously she's a really good player and it's good for me to be able to play her."

Having such a high quality field for the tournament is good for the sport in Rotorua.

"It's awesome that we've got so may people coming. In terms of getting people excited about squash and people coming down to watch, it will be great to have those players on show."

Next Tuesday Landers-Murphy leaves for the world championships in Kuala Lumpur and she is hoping to be selected for the world doubles in July and world teams event at the end of the year.

Attracting top players helped the development of the sport in Rotorua, said Bedford.

"It's good for our club players to have opportunity to play against world class players. They are international class players and they are amazing to watch, especially for the juniors and the younger ones coming up through the club.

"These are the people they look up to, so to get the chance to watch them is really awesome."

Up and coming Rotorua player, Nadia Hubbard, is another to watch out for.

Still just 16 she has already represented New Zealand at the world junior individual and team championships last year.

Dame Susan Devoy's son Alex Oakley will take his place in the men's draw.

"Some of these kids are in A grade already and they are amazing players."

The open is an annual tournament that has really come into its own in recent years and is well supported by top players.

"It has been a bit hit and miss (in the past) but coming up four years ago, the Geyser club held the Bay of Plenty Open open and it was a huge success. The club did an awesome job and since then we've been able to get good support and we want (the Open) to become known as a good tournament to enter. People just keep supporting us - it's really awesome."

The official start of the tournament is 5pm on Friday, but local players will begin their quest for glory tomorrow. "We've got a full house - we've maxed out with the number of entries," said Bedford.