King headed into the gold medal match as the favourite against England's Sarah-Jane Perry, with the second seed having triumphed on all five of their meetings to date.

The statistic appeared to make the first game even more important for Perry, who battled for every point in the early exchanges.

A tightly contested first game would eventually go the way of King, however, with the world number four taking the opener 16-14.

Perry's frustration continued to grow as the English player remonstrated with the referee on several decisions, something that would become a theme of the final.

Shortly after falling two games behind Perry was given a conduct warning, before again falling foul of the official when she collided with the side of the court, prompting the referee to allow her a time-out for a "self-inflicted" injury.

The English player appeared to use the incidents to galvanise herself, as she took the third game 11-6 to breathe life into the final.

Tensions continued to rise as a crucial fourth game progressed, with the players eventually finding themselves locked at 11-all.

Perry would snatch the next two points to take the match into a deciding game, which appeared an unlikely prospect only 30 minutes earlier.

Having fought her way back, Perry found herself chasing again as King regained control of proceedings.

The New Zealander, who fought back from a career threatening Achilles injury, ultimately sealed a 16-14, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13, 11-8 victory.

"I had an injury that kept me out for a long time and I never thought I'd get back to this level," said King.

"It's a bonus to still be competing, let alone win a gold.

"There was a time last year when I thought about throwing it away.

"It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of ups and downs, and something like this makes it all worth it."

Wales would celebrate a squash medal for the first time since Alex Gough earned bronze at Kuala Lumpur 1998, as Tesni Evans matched the feat by seeing off the challenge of former world number one Nicol David.

David, who won the singles title in Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014, was beaten 11-7, 3-11, 12-10, 11-7.

There was another England and New Zealand confrontation in the men's final, with Willstrop looking to upgrade his silver medals from Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014, where he was beaten by his compatriot Nick Matthew in the finals.

New Zealand’s Paul Coll would provide the opposition on this occasion, but he had no answer to an inspired Willstrop.

The English player made a bright start to the match and got better throughout the contest.

A dominant Willstrop would wrap up an impressive 11-9, 11-4, 11-6 victory to end his wait for a Commonwealth Games singles gold.

The bronze medal was earned by Malaysia's Nafiizwan Adnan, who overcame Wales' Joel Matkin in a thrilling contest.

Adnan, who beat defending champion Matthew earlier in the tournament, became the first Malaysian men's singles medallist at the Commonwealth Games as he came from behind to win 11-7, 6-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5.