Two-time Barbados Open defending champion Shawn Badrinath, who is seeded this year at #3, gave notice last night that he would not give up his Men’s open title without a fight when he outlasted the #2 seed in the Men’s semi-final of the Trident Insurance Barbados Squash Open.
In a pulsating 83 minute match that kept the packed audience in court #1 at the Barbados Squash Club on the edge of their seats the Guyanese national champion simply refused to lose to the French #2 seed, Arthur Poupel, whose game is based around solid ground strokes and tremendous agility and stamina. At first there was no hint of the drama that would unfold as the baby faced Poupel, ranked #25 in France looked the steadier player and was in command after taking the first game 9-4 and rushing to a 6-1 lead in the second. Urged on by his vocal Barbadian fans, Badrinath began to show the range of shots he is known for and chipped away at Poupel?s lead and evened the match at one all without losing another point. Poupel then ran away with the third game 9-1 and many believed that the match was over. It was then that Badrinath began to fight even harder. Each rally became longer and longer as each player tested the patience and fitness of the other. Poupel held the advantage at 5-2 and 6-3 but could not finish off the tenacious Badrinath, who eventually rushed from 3-6 down to win the fourth game 9-6 in a single hand. At the end of that fourth game the crowd erupted, believing that Poupel would have nothing left for the fifth. They were wrong! More lung bursting rallies were to follow. Poupel held a 4-1 lead, and then briefly led again at 5-4. Badrinath was not to be denied, however, and reeled off the final five points to win one of the longest matches ever played in Barbados 4/9 9/6 1/9 9/6 9/5.
In the final Badrinath will face the top seeded Johan Bouquet (France) who survived a close tussle against the top local player, Gavin Cumberbatch, who is seeded at #4. Both of these 20 year old players began the match hitting the ball with great pace on both wings and thrilled the crowd with their speed about the court and their ability to recover seemingly lost causes. The first game was a long affair and was eventually won by Cumberbatch 9-8 in 21 minutes. The local fans sensed an upset and urged their favourite on, but the pressure being applied on the court by the Frenchman began to take its toll on the legs of Cumberbatch, who is now the Yale University squash captain. Bouquet was never seriously threatened again as more mistakes began to creep into the Barbadian?s game. As he tired Cumberbatch tried to slow things down, and reduced the pace of his shots. But ultimately his drop shot deserted him and with Bouquet looking increasingly comfortable the last three games took a mere ten minutes each as the top seed ran out a 8/9 9/5 9/3 9/5 winner in 55 minutes.
After the ladies #2 seed, Karen Meakins clinically dispatched #4 Sonia Perkins in straight games there was also drama in the second ladies semi-final. The top seeded Canadian, Ruchika Kumar, was severely tested by the #3 seed from Jamaica, Karen Anderson in an excellent semi-final match that lasted 49 minutes. Anderson began brightly enough, and concentrated her attack on the weaker Kumar backhand and easily took the first game 9/4. Kumar kept the second game close but Anderson looked the more complete player and put the Canadian under constant pressure by volleying everything within reach. Then inexplicably, from a position of command, if not control, the Jamaican seemed in a hurry to finish off rallies and began to try for a backhand crosscourt nick off the Kumar serve and tinned a few to give the Canadian easy points. Kumar immediately sensed a weakness and continued to allow Anderson to make the mistakes and took the second game 9-7. At one all the match was now taking on a very different complexion, but Anderson again picked up the pace and ran away with the third game to again hold a one game advantage. At this point it seemed that Anderson stopped believing she could win and instead of keeping things tight, began to look for winners when they were not there. Kumar began to play more steadily and wherever possible moved the point of attack to her stronger forehand side and took the final two games to win the match 3-2.
In other men’s matches played in the consolation plate, the Caribbean under-15 champion, Bryant Cumberbatch, caused a major upset by beating the #11 seed Marlon White in four games, while another Frenchman, Fabien Magne, caused a minor surprise by taking out the Barbados and Caribbean over-40 champion, Nigel ?the Dragon? Griffith in three straight games. In the Men’s plate, veteran David Foster came from 2-8 down in his third game against the much younger Ricky Edwards to reel off 17 of the last 18 points and pull off an upset 3-1 victory. All the other matches played resulted in comfortable victories for the higher ranked player on court.
Full results were as follows (all Barbados players unless otherwise indicated):
Ladies Semi-finals:
# 1 Ruchika Kumar (Canada) defeated # 3 Karen Anderson (Jamaica) (3-2) 4/9 9/7 5/9 9/4 9/5 (49 min.)
# 2 Karen Meakins defeated # 4 Sonia Perkins (3-0) 9/4 9/3 9/2 (27 min.)
Men’s Semi-finals:
# 1 Johan Bouquet (France) defeated # 4 Gavin Cumberbatch (3-1) 8/9 9/5 9/3 9/5 (55 min.)
# 3 Shawn Badrinath (Guyana) defeated # 2 Arthur Poupel (France) (3-2) 4/9 9/6 1/9 9/6 9/5 (83 min.)
Men’s Consolation Plate Quarter-finals:
# 9 Marlon White lost to # 15 Bryant Cumberbatch (1-3) 9/7 1/9 6/9 5/9
# 11 Ray Chan-a-Sue (Guyana) defeated David Patterson (Jamaica) (3-0) 9/1 9/0 9/2
# 16 Fabien Magne (France) defeated # 12 Nigel Griffith (3-0) 10/8 9/4 9/5
# 10 Mark Sealy defeated # 13 Rhett Cumberbatch (3-0) 9/1 9/4 10/8
Men’s Plate Quarter-finals:
Craig Archer defeated Oliver Gale (3-0) 9/1 9/2 9/5
Andre Donawa defeated Barry Gale (3-1) 9/4 1/9 9/0 9/6
David Foster defeated Ricky Edwards (3-1) 9/6 5/9 10/8 9/1
Rawle Jackson defeated Liu Ross (3-0) 9/3 9/4 10/8
Playoff matches for positions right down to eighth begin from 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon (Saturday) June 26th at the Barbados Squash Club’s courts in Marine Gardens, Christ Church. The ladies final is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. and the final match will be the Men’s final which should begin at 5:45 p.m. Admission to the Barbados Squash Club (BSC) is free and refreshments are always on sale at the bar there. All spectators are welcome.
