King had a battle on her hands against Gilies — the girlfriend of Kiwi world No1 Paul Coll — with her energetic brand of squash and feisty play.
Gilies looked to capitalise on the slight injury King has been plagued with throughout the event. The Belgian looked to extend the rallies and forced errors from the New Zealander’s racket to take the first game 11-7.
Despite King taking the second game, Gilis’ relentless movement was proving difficult for King to deal with. The world No5 managed to recover to 8-9 but could not stop the Belgian from taking a well deserved 2-1 lead.
In a tense fourth game, King developed a three point lead at 6-3 and kept this momentum going to go 9-6 up and looked certain to force a fifth game. Twelfth ranked Gilis fought back to 9-9, but two expertly constructed rallies gave King the game 11-9.
The score reached 6-6 in the final game with nothing to split the two players. It was King who earned the first match ball at 10-9, but the stubbornness of Gilis denied King the win on that occasion.
The video referee was called into action a couple of times in the tiebreak and had to make some crucial decisions.
King earned herself another match ball at 14-13 and this time converted after an error from Gilis.
"That was class from Nele. I think the first game she just got into my lungs," said King after the 86-minute, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 15-13 win.
"Before this tournament, my preparation wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to be. It’s been a while since the lungs were open and as you can see, she just fights and gets everything back and makes you play that extra shot."
The match had a few decisions where both players called for officials to intervene and created plenty of tension going into the tight last game.
"In the heat of the battle things get said and you’re asking for lets at pressure moments and I questioned her trying to play the ball and she was a bit disappointed I questioned it, which is only fair. It’s nothing personal, we’re both here on the court to try and win and get to the final.
"Hopefully once things cool down, we can have a chat."
King will take on one of her Commonwealth Games rivals in the final of the tournament she won in 2019, as she faces either England’s Sarah-Jane Perry or Tesni Evans, from Wales.
