Yet another seeded player perished last night as the annual Playfair Barbados Squash Open continued on Tuesday July 3rd at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC), Marine Gardens, Christ Church (427-7913).
In the very competitive Men’s B draw the second #5/8 seed in as many nights perished in an exciting match that went the full distance. In the penultimate match played on the night the promising Roger Martin, who was seeded at # 5/8 fought tooth and nail to come to grips with the tricky lobs and deft front court game of the wily and unseeded Norman Rice. After a close 15 minute first game which Rice won 10/8, Martin seemed to have the measure of his opponent and took the next two games reasonably comfortably at 6 and 2. Undeterred, Rice then rushed to 8-2 lead in the fourth only for Martin to pull back to 8-8 to get to within two points of victory. It never came! Martin failed to close out this fourth game and when Rice snatched it once again at 10-8, Martin?s disappointment was obvious for all to see. The fifth game was close all the way to 7-all, but then two quick points by Rice gave him the upset victory in 57 minutes to his great relief and delight 10/8 6/9 2/9 10/8 9/7.
The remaining Men’s B matches played were mainly regulation victories to the higher ranked players in straight games. Only the #2 seed, Craig Archer, and the #3/4 seed, Don Benn, dropped a total of two games between them. Archer took a while to work out the questions posed by his tenacious opponent, Kieran Young, who looked very sharp early on especially on the volley. After making the necessary adjustments to the length and width of shots to take his opponent’s volley out of play, Archer then progressed fairly comfortably in four games: 10/9 3/9 9/4 9/3 in 36 minutes.
Don Benn, on the other hand, took a while to warm up and dropped the first game to his unseed opponent, the former National junior player, Jonathan Foster. Benn was never unduly troubled however and won the match in four games 4/9 9/6 9/2 10/8.
In the Ladies A competition all the matches resulted in easy 3-0 victories for the seeded players. The spectators got their first view of the petite #3/4 seed, Jenny Tamblyn, from England who looked a bit awkward on court but certainly placed the ball accurately into the corners of the court and kept her opponent Ayoni Bradshaw scurrying all around just to keep in the rally. Tamblyn won 9/3 9/2 9/3 in 22 minutes. One of the # 5/8 seeds Bo Harris also looked impressive while defeating Nakita Poon Kong (Trinidad) 9/1 9/7 9/2 in 26 minutes to reach the quarterfinals on Thursday evening.
Results from Day 2 on July 3rd were as follows (all players from Barbados except otherwise indicated):
Ladies A ? 1st Round
#5/8 Carla Jackson defeated Lucyla Seale (3-0) 9/1 9/1 9/3
#5/8 Bo Harris defeated Nakita Poon Kong (T&T) (3-0) 9/1 9/7 9/2
#3/4 Sonia Perkins defeated Edna Corbette (3-0) 9/1 9/1 9/2
#3/4 Jenny Tamblyn (England) defeated Ayoni Bradshaw (3-0) 9/3 9/2 9/3
#5/8 Lilianna White defeated Audre Spence by default
#5/8 Nadia McCarthy defeated Zo? Lisk (3-0) 9/3 9/3 9/1
Men’s B ? 2nd Round
#1 Mickey Armstrong defeated Frank Jordan (3-0) 9/1 9/3 9/1
Norman Rice defeated #5/8 Roger Martin (3-2) 10/8 6/9 2/9 10/8 9/7
#3/4 Don Benn defeated Jonathan Foster (3-1) 4/9 9/6 9/2 10/8
Kevin Bailey (St. Vincent) defeated David Spink (3-0) 9/0 9/7 9/1
#5/8 Mark Gilkes defeated Barry Gale (3-0) 9/2 9/1 9/2
#3/4 Leon Truss defeated Tony Mackenzie (3-0) 9/4 10/8 9/4
#5/8 Nkosi Ross defeated Cliff Nolan (3-0) 9/1 9/1 10/8
#2 Craig Archer defeated Kieran Young (3-1) 10/9 3/9 9/4 9/3
The hard hitting action in the Men’s A draw begins on Wednesday, July 4th. The Men’s B Plate (1st round) and Ladies Plate (1st round) matches continue on July 4th also also. Matches begin each weekday, Monday to Friday, at 5:00 p.m. All finals will be played on Saturday afternoon 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.
