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King And Coll In Gold Medal Finals

Two out of two for New Zealand in the semifinals of the singles at squash at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Both Joelle King and Paul Coll will play off for gold in the women's and men's singles finals after differing semifinal victories.

King reached the final of the women's singles after beating one of the greats of squash in four games. She defeated Malaysian great Nicol David who was the double defending Commonwealth Games champion as well as a former eight-time world champion 13-11 11-5 1-11 11-5 in 39 minutes in an entertaining semfinal.

The Kiwi looked fresh for most of the game, while at times David appeared to be feeling the length of time she spent on court for her five set win in her quarter-final the previous day. Despite dropping the first two games it was David who came back with renewed spirit in the third game to win it by dropping just one point. But in the fourth the Kiwi dominated and ran away with the match.

"Great players find a way back. I got a good start, she just never gives up, I guess that's the reason what she was No.1. I then managed to control my length and it's great to make the final. I woke up feeling pretty good this morning," said King who had played a late quarter-final the previous night. "We have an amazing team behind the scenes. I had two guys massaging me at midnight....one on each leg....that doesn't quite sound right does it? The whole team has been great with support and everything."

Ranked No.4 in the world King, 29 will now play Sarah-Jane Perry from England for the gold medal. Perry has a current ranking of eight and is seeded fourth. The last time they played King defeated Perry in four games in the second round of the world champs in December and also in four games in a tournament in November last year.

"She's a great player and it will be tough...it's for a medal. I think my record against her is good?"

Meanwhile Coll, 25 took 106 minutes to win his match 6-11, 9-11, 11-9 11-2, 11-8 over Welsh 11th seed Joel Makin

"It's a dream come true! He came out strong, I just had to come out and be more positive and aggressive after the second game. If you had told me four years ago I wouldn't have believed it that I would now be in the gold medal final at the Commonwealth Games," said an ecstatic Coll who will be the toast of his home town, Greymouth after his win from two sets down.

He will now play 4th seed James Willstrop of England for gold tomorrow at 7.30pm local time 9.30NZT. Willstrop is in his third consecutive Commonwealth Games final, having never winning gold.

However Coll beat Willstrop on the last two occasions they have played, both in April last year. Willstrop has a current ranking 14 in the world and is a veteran of the pro tour at 35-years-old.

"He's a class player. I'm just going to go out there and give it my all," said Coll.

Full schedule below:

Day 5 (Singles Finals) Schedule


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