Kiwi King ready to defend Hong Kong Open crown, and ‘happy to be back’ at the site of her biggest triumph
- Joelle King enters the week on the back of winning her 16th PSA title at the Singapore Open
- Monday’s first round of matches includes nine local players, including women’s world No 36 Ho Tze-lok
Joelle King has waited four years to defend her Hong Kong Open title, and said she was “happy to be back” in a city that holds a special place in her heart.
The New Zealander, who enters this week’s squash tournament as world No 4, is on a 12-match winning streak having won the NZ Open and last week’s Singapore Open.
Her triumph in the city state was her 16th PSA title, and the biggest win since her victory in Hong Kong in 2018.
King begins the defence of her crown on Tuesday, against either Britain’s Lucy Beecroft or Egypt’s Nardine Garas, and said she had been “playing some good squash recently”.
“I guess the main thing is I believe that I contend for the title,” the 34-year-old said. “I am happy with my form, and my goal, obviously at the latter stage of my career, the big thing is trying to see how much I can still improve, and try to win any tournaments I play in.”
While King said the sight of an empty Hong Kong airport was sad, she was looking forward to getting reacquainted with the city once she had cleared Covid-19 restrictions on her movement.
“Hong Kong is a special place for me, and it’s very interesting coming back now after Covid,” King said. “It’s a lot quieter even arriving at the airport, one of my favourite things about Hong Kong is when you land, people were busy here and there, and it was really sad that it was so quiet.
