New Zealanders Jaclyn Hawkes and Joelle King kept their form up and their shoulders intact as the flew into the Commonwealth Games women's doubles squash quarterfinals today.
It took just 14 minutes for the tournament fourth seeds to hammer Scottish sixth seeds Lisa Aitken and Frania Gillen-Buchert 11-5 11-4 in their second and final pool match.
Yesterday they embarrassed their Guernsey opponents in eight minutes, delivering the sort of swift execution that the New Zealand pair say is ideal in doubles.
"We're happy with that, we don't want to spend more time on the court than we need to," Hawkes told NZPA.
"We've done a fair amount of practice so the less hitting we do, the better for our shoulders because they tend to get sore in doubles. The rallies last longer and you're hitting the ball harder repetitively."
Doubles squash features few drop shots but plenty of power hitting, with players regularly seeking to hit the bodies of their opponents with crisp volleys.
Hawkes and King are the best New Zealand prospects for a medal, particularly with the women's doubles draw having been struck down by injury.
The second-seeded Indian pair have withdrawn due to ill health, Alison Waters has been replaced in England's third-seeded combination while Malaysian world No 1 Nicole David isn't entered in the women's doubles.
"We're seeing a chance open up here," Hawkes told NZPA.
"I think we've got every reason to believe we can do well. Obviously we wanted to go through to the singles finals or the third and fourth playoff but once we were knocked out (both in the quarterfinals) we decided to throw everything at this."
The tournament top seeds are Australians Donna Urquhart and Kasey Brown.
