Jenny Armstrong, the overseas based national player, caused the first minor upset as action continued in the Playfair Ltd. / Federal Bookmakers Barbados Squash Open on Wednesday night, June 21st at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC). Armstrong, who now lives and plays in the USA, was seeded at #5 for this tournament but put in an impressive performance in her quarter-final match to defeat fellow national team colleague, Lilianna White, the #3 seed in straight games 9/3 9/6 9/2 in 22 minutes. The other three ladies? quarter-finals produced comfortable 3-0 victories for the higher ranked player. The top seed, Karen Meakins cruised past local junior player, Nadia McCarthy, for the loss of just eight points 9/2 9/5 9/1. The current British Closed Under-17 champion and #4 seed, Victoria Lust, defeated the local Under-17 and Under-19 champion, Cheri-Ann Parris, 9/1 9/6 9/6 while the #2 seed Sonia Perkins stopped Caymanian, Chantelle Day, the Caribbean Under-19 champion 9/5 9/1 9/3.
In the Men’s A quarter-finals the Guyanese top seed and four-time defending champion, Shawn Badrinath, looked in awesome form as he dispatched #8 Nigel Griffith for the loss of just three points. The #2 seed, Gavin Cumberbatch was equally dismissive and dropped only four points against #7 Fabien Magne who hails from Paris, France. In Friday?s semi-final Cumberbatch will face local three-time national champion Shawn Simpson who is seeded here at #3. Simpson lost the first five points of his match against the unseeded OECS junior champion, Shane Slater from St. Vincent, but recovered his composure to claim 27 of the next 36 points to win in straight games 9/7 9/5 9/2. The match of the night saw the #4 seed Steve Smith from Jamaica extended by the plucky Trinidadian, Colin Ramasra who is seeded at #5. After splitting the first two games, the silky smooth Jamaican lost his way and appeared to have no answer for the excellent attacking play of the Trinidadian champion who comfortably won the third game for the loss of four points. The fair sized crowd was then treated to yet another devastating display of deft volleys and clinging drops from Smith, who recovered from 1-4 down in the fourth game to ruthlessly punish the increasingly wayward length and width played by the tiring Ramasra. Smith then reeled off the last 17 points in the match without reply to win 9/8 9/10 4/9 9/4 9/0 in 48 minutes. In his semi-final on Friday, Smith will face Badrinath in a repeat of last year?s final.
In the Men’s B quarter-finals also played last night (Wednesday) Mickey Armstrong defeated Andrew Nunes 3-0, Cliff Nolan defeated David Foster 3-1, Fredrik Crouzet (Martinique) defeated Alex McDonald 3-0, and in the nightcap match, Tariq Williams (Guyana) let a 2-0 lead slip away but just managed to hold off Roger Martin in five close games.
Full results from Day 3 on June 21st were as follows (all players from Barbados unless stated otherwise):
Ladies Quarter-final: #1 Karen Meakins defeated #8 Nadia McCarthy 9/2 9/5 9/1
Ladies Quarter-final: #5 Jenny Armstrong defeated #3 Lilianna White 9/3 9/6 9/2
Ladies Quarter-final: #4 Victoria Lust (England) defeated #6 Cheri-Ann Parris 9/1 9/6 9/6
Ladies Quarter-final: #2 Sonia Perkins defeated #7 Chantelle Day (Cayman) 9/5 9/1 9/3
Men’s A Quarter-final: #1 Shawn Badrinath (Guyana) defeated #8 Nigel Griffith 9/2 9/1 9/0
Men’s A Quarter-final: #4 Steve Smith (Jamaica) defeated #5 Colin Ramasra (Trinidad) 8/9 10/9 4/9 9/4 9/0
Men’s A Quarter-final: #3 Shawn Simpson defeated Shane Slater (St. Vincent) 9/7 9/5 9/2
Men’s A Quarter-final: #2 Gavin Cumberbatch defeated #7 Fabien Magne (France) 9/2 9/1 9/1
Men’s B Quarter-final: Mickey Armstrong defeated Andrew Nunes 9/2 9/5 9/2
Men’s B Quarter-final: Cliff Nolan defeated David Foster 7/9 9/7 9/3 9/4
Men’s B Quarter-final: Fredrik Crouzet (Martinique) defeated Alex McDonald 9/0 10/8 9/4
Men’s B Quarter-final: Tariq Williams (Guyana) defeated Roger Martin 9/3 10/8 7/9 7/9 9/6
Men’s B Plate Q-Final: Orson Simpson defeated Jonathan O?Dowd 9/2 9/5 9/6
Men’s B Plate Q-Final: Ricky Edwards defeated Michael Best 9/3 9/6 9/0
Men’s B Plate Q-Final: Kieran Young defeated Sylvester Nurse by default
Men’s B Plate Q-Final: David Lewis defeated Ciaran Raymer 9/3 9/4 9/3
Men’s and ladies? matches will continue tonight Thursday, starting from 5:45 p.m. and continuing until approximately 9:30 p.m. Matches will also commence at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, June 23rd at the BSC [427-7913]. All finals will be contested between noon and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, June 24th. The trophy presentation ceremony will be held at the BSC on Saturday evening also.
