New Zealand & England To Contest Nations Cup Final

Top seeds New Zealand and England will line up in the final of the inaugural Nations Cup after finishing top of Pool A and Pool B, respectively, as pool stage action drew to a close today at the Trustpower Baypark Arena in the New Zealand city of Tauranga.

Home favourites Paul Coll and Joelle King made it three wins from three as they helped New Zealand to victory over Scotland, beating Greg Lobban and Lisa Aitken.

Men's world No.2 Coll was up first and he made no mistake in dispatching world No.25 Lobban 7-2, 7-2, 7-1, 7-4 in just 26 minutes. King then followed up with a 7-1, 7-4, 3-7, 7-0, 7-1 win to wrap up the pool stage for New Zealand.

"I mean, it's a weird thing - before I went on Paul told me that we were already through," said King.

"It should relax you in a good way, but sometimes you need that little bit of something to chase, to sort of fire you up. I'm happy with getting off there and getting through tonight."

England narrowly got the better of Team Europe in their fixture. Men's world No.4 Mohamed ElShorbagy completed a 7-3, 7-0, 7-4, 7-2 victory over Frenchman Sebastien Bonmalais.

ElShorbagy's compatriot Sarah-Jane Perry fell to Belgium's Nele Gilis by a 7-3, 7-4, 7-3, 7-1 scoreline, but England take the win courtesy of winning 39 points during the course of the fixture, compared to 37 for Europe, meaning they top Pool B.

"I am very happy with my focus," said ElShorbagy.

"I think I was happy with how I did yesterday. Sometimes when you're winning 2/0, 3/0, you can easily lose focus in one of the games. It happens when you're playing best of five in a normal PSA event a lot. So this tournament has been very good mentally for all of us."

Europe will take on Canada in the third-place play-off tomorrow following Canada's victory over Australia earlier which guaranteed them second in Pool A. Despite David Baillargeon falling to Rex Hedrick by a 4/2 margin, Hollie Naughton was able to rescue her team with an assured 4/0 victory over Jessica Turnbull.

In Pool B, USA finished in third place after Olivia Clyne and Timothy Brownell achieved wins over Kaitlyn Watts and Lwamba Chileshe, consigning New Zealand B to bottom place.

Results - Pool Stage Day Three: 2022 Nations Cup

[5] Canada 1-1 [7] Australia: Pool A (Canada win due to winning 6-4 on games)
Rex Hedrick (AUS) bt David Baillargeon (CAN) 4-2: 4-7, 7-2, 7-2, 7-2, 4-7, 7-2 (56m)
Hollie Naughton (CAN) bt Jessica Turnbull (AUS) 4-0: 7-1, 7-2, 7-2, 7-4 (19m)

[6] USA 2-0 [8] New Zealand B: Pool B
Timothy Brownell (USA) bt Lwamba Chileshe (NZL) 4-1: 7-6, 5-7, 7-3, 7-2, 7-2 (40m)
Olivia Clyne (USA) bt Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) 4-1: 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, 6-7, 7-4 (32m)

[1] New Zealand A 2-0 [4] Scotland: Pool A
Paul Coll (NZL) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 4-0: 7-2, 7-2, 7-1, 7-4 (26m)
Joelle King (NZL) bt Lisa Aitken (SCO) 4-1: 7-1, 7-4, 3-7, 7-0, 7-1 (32m)

[2] England 1-1 [3] Europe: Pool B (England win due to winning 39-37 on points)
Mohamed ElShorbagy (ENG) bt Sebastien Bonmalais (FRA) 4-0: 7-3, 7-0, 7-4, 7-2 (30m)
Nele Gilis (BEL) bt Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) 4-0: 7-3, 7-4, 7-3, 7-1 (33m)