Kiwi squash star Joelle King has finished fourth in the women's singles competition after a heart-breaking five game thriller on Thursday morning.
King went down to English rival Sarah-Jane Perry 3-2 [11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 12-14] in a marathon bronze medal match.
The 33-year-old returned to the court at the University of Birmingham after her shock semi-final loss on Wednesday and after a tight opening to her bronze medal match against Perry, pulled away to win the opening game 11-6.
The back-and-forth nature of the contest continued in the second game before Perry pushed to an 8-6 lead and looked to close out the contest.
However, King bounced back to push to game point soon after and at 10-9 converted on her opportunity and took a 2-0 lead overall in the match.
King then jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the third game before Perry started to claw her way back into the contest and on the back of a seven-point run, forced the match to a fourth game with an 8-11 win.
Perry took that momentum into the next game, taking her own four-point lead early on with a 7-3 advantage over the Kiwi which she converted into another game win, sending the match to a decider.
With plenty of emotion and physicality on display, the pair traded points back and forth to open the fifth game all the way to a 7-7 scoreline. Throughout the battle, the pair both had plenty to say with Australian referee Russell Weatherburn as well.
King then pushed ahead to 8-7 before the pair engaged in a marathon rally that ended with an ugly collision as the New Zealander attempted to get to the ball but the result was both competitors laying on the floor. King was eventually awarded a point for the collision but Perry instantly replied with two points to tie the score again at 9-9.
King struck next though to secure match ball advantage but with Perry again replying, the bronze medal was left to be decided by a tiebreaker.
As the pair continued to trade back and forth, both gaining match ball moments along the way, it was eventually Perry that came out on top 14-12.
It was the first of two squash medal matches for New Zealand on Thursday morning with Paul Coll playing for a gold medal in the men's singles competition later on.
Coll will play Wales' Joel Makin with a chance to top a Commonwealth Games podium for the first time after winning a silver [singles] and bronze [mixed doubles] in 2018.
Thursday's finals wrap up the first chapter of the New Zealand squash team's campaign in Birmingham with King and Coll now teaming up in the mixed doubles.
During the mixed doubles, King will also team up with Amanda Landers-Murphy in the women's doubles - a competition Kaitlyn Watts and Abbie Palmer will also contest for New Zealand.
Brothers Temwa and Lwamba Chileshe will also represent New Zealand in the men's doubles.
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