The first and only major upset turned out to be the very first match of the night as the annual Playfair Barbados Squash Open got underway on Monday night July 2nd at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC), Marine Gardens, Christ Church (427-7913).
Competition on Monday night was in the Men’s B category where all competitors saw some action except the #1 seed, Mickey Armstrong, and the #2 seed, Craig Archer who both drew first round byes. In the first match on court the in-form, Dean Straker, who had been seeded as a # 5/8 seed in the Men’s B draw, fought valiantly but in the end had to succumb to the promising Vincentian, Kevin Bailey, who looked very quick and full of running. After dropping the first game at five Bailey never trailed in any of the subsequent three games as he ran away with the match 5/9 10/8 9/6 9/0.
All the other seeded players won easily by three games to love last night with the exception of the #3/4 seed Leon Truss who took a little while to get going and actually dropped the first game against the up and coming junior player, Ryan Foster, before prevailing with his trademarked lob and drop game in four, 6/9 9/4 9/6 9/4. The longest match of the night was played by the energetic David Spink who despite letting a two game lead slip away successfully fought back in the deciding fifth game to defeat Bertram Butcher in 55 minutes 9/2 9/5 4/9 7/9 9/2.
Results from Day 1 on July 2nd were as follows (all players from Barbados except otherwise indicated):
Men’s B ? 1st Round
Frank Jordan defeated Moishe Steinbok (3-0) 9/5 9/3 9/4
Norman Rice defeated Rawle Jackson (3-0) 9/0 9/2 9/3
#5/8 Roger Martin defeated Sylvester Nurse by default
Jonathan Foster defeated Maurice Frank (T?dad) (3-0) 9/4 9/2 9/2
#3/4 Don Benn defeated Ricky Edwards (3-0) 9/2 9/7 10/9
David Spink defeated Bertram Butcher (3-2) 9/2 9/5 4/9 7/9 9/2
Kevin Bailey (St. Vinc.) defeated #5/8 Dean Straker (3-1) 5/9 10/8 9/6 9/0
#5/8 Mark Gilkes defeated Matthew Mackenzie (3-0) 9/1 9/1 9/5
Barry Gale defeated Andrew Nunes (3-0) 9/3 9/3 9/0
Tony Mackenzie defeated David Foster (3-1) 9/5 9/3 4/9 9/4
#3/4 Leon Truss defeated Ryan Foster (3-1) 6/9 9/4 9/6 9/4
Cliff Nolan defeated Liu Ross (3-0) 9/2 9/5 9/7
#5/8 Nkosi Ross defeated Ciaran Raymer (3-0) 9/5 9/4 9/0
Kieran Young defeated Rhynal Rodrigues (T?dad) (3-0) 9/5 9/0 9/3
The Men’s B (2nd round) and Ladies (1st round) matches will be played tonight (July 3rd). The Men’s A draw begins on Wednesday, July 4th. The matches begin each evening at 5:00 p.m. All finals will be played on Saturday afternoon, July 7th between 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Admission to the BSC is free and spectators are welcome.
You can follow the action day by day by downloading the updated tournament draw by following the link below.
Playfair Barbados Open 2007 – Draw (Day 2) – file no. 1
