Squash: Two out of three not enough for Joyce

BIRMINGHAM - Two down, one to go - that is how New Zealand squash player Leilani Joyce reacted after winning the British Open title for the second straight year yesterday.

"This is a double whammy - I set out this year to hold the British Open title and gain the world No 1 spot," Joyce said.

"This win gives me two parts of the ambition in one hit, with enough points to take me past world champion Cassie Campion into first place on the world squash ranking list for the first time. Now I want the world open title."

Joyce beat Sue Wright, of England, 9-7, 9-4, 9-2 in a 39-minute final.

It was her fifth successive straight-games win of the tournament, making her a worthy winner of an event regarded as the Wimbledon of squash.

The match was the longest of the defence campaign for the 26-year-old from Hamilton, but still an easy progression after an initial run of four points in the opening two games by Wright.

Wright, a qualifier who also had to face a seed in every round of the event proper, simply ran out of steam against an opponent who refused to be drawn into the scrappy game which Wright used so effectively in the semifinal against Auckland-based Australian Carol Owens.

Joyce said experience gained in winning last year had contributed to her victory.

"I was much less nervous this time. Last year in Aberdeen it was the biggest crowd I had ever played in front of, and I was the underdog.

"I was favourite this time, but I've been here before and I've played a lot of big matches since then. The British Open is the very top as squash tournaments go, and I'm thrilled to have won it again."

Joyce said she was not thinking about emulating Dame Susan Devoy who won the British Open eight times.

"I don't want to walk in anybody's shadow, really. This is just my life and my career. I doubt if I could even be here in seven years' time. There are other things to do."

She thought her second title in the game's biggest tournament changed her standing in the game even beyond the move to world No 1.

"This is my time, so I don't want to be compared to anyone else, and who knows what will happen in the future," she said.

"But I have the opportunity to dominate the game now the way some others have, and I will be working hard to do that."

- NZPA