The evening began with the ladies third place playoff between Caribbean U-19 champion, Cheri-Ann Parris of Barbados and the experienced Rhea Khan of Trinidad & Tobago. Parris got out to an early lead in the first game and never relinquished it. She used her power and size to dominate the slightly built Khan. Parris won that game easily 9/1. However in the second, Khan used every bit of her guile and craft with the drop shot and low drives to race ahead and claim the game 9/2 to even things up. However, it appeared that the second game took its toll on Khan and she was unable to respond to any of the shots Parris played in the third and went down 9/2. The fourth was an action replay of the third with Parris using her powerful straight drives to set-up her drops to close out the match 9/2.
The Men’s third place playoff was also a tight affair between Chris Binnie, the reigning Caribbean U-19 champion and Shawn Simpson of Barbados. Binnie started off very well and took a 4/1 lead in the first game. However, Simpson settled himself and reeled off 7 straight points to go ahead 8/4. Binnie was able to get a change of serve and a point to get to 5/7 but it was not enough as Simpson got back the serve and the game to win 9/5. The second game, however, was more about tactics and attrition. There were 22 service changes with neither player getting more than 3 points ahead of the other. It was a back and forth affair with Binnie going up 7/4 but Simpson using pace and effective drives and drops forced his way to 8/7. Binnie seemed to dig in his heels though and got the change of serve and won the next 3 points to claim the 10/8 victory. The third game was a no contest with Binnie dominating the game from start to finish and winning 9/0. The fourth game was more intense and had more rallies and Simpson took a 6/4 lead before Binnie, determined to secure his #3 CASA ranking took the match 9/6.
The Ladies final was a battle between friendly rivals, Karen Meakins of Barbados (#1) and Karen Anderson of Jamaica (#2), playing in her first Caribbean Senior Championship final. Anderson started off making a lot of mistakes in the first game and Meakins playing very aggressively. Meakins took an early 5/0 lead before Anderson was able to get some points on the board, but Meakins again capitalized on the loose shots and closed out the game 9/2. However, in the second game Anderson obviously had a plan and stuck to it. She was determined to move Meakins laterally and then use the mid-court boast or low cross courts or straight drives to attack. Anderson won the second game, 9/3. The third game was more about patience. Anderson played down the backhand side consistently with mid-pace straight drives and waited for Meakins to make a mistake. The tactic worked as Anderson closed out that game 9/6. In the fourth game Anderson went up 5/1 using the same tactics as she had deployed in the third, but seemed to tire at 5/4 and lost her length on the drives and lost the next 5 points straight for
Meakins to equalize at 2 games all. In the final game, Anderson jumped out to a 5/0 lead by going back to the patient straight mid-pace drives down the backhand side. But Meakins, ever the fighter, got back to 4/5 when the match was interrupted when Anderson went sliding across the floor on her knees which then had to be bandaged. When play resumed Anderson started off very shakily, but recovered and went back to the patient, backhand drives and threw in the cross court once or twice to wrong foot her opponent and won the match without the loss of another point, 9/4.
The Men’s final between #6 Gavin Cumberbatch of Barbados and #7 Colin Ramasra (T&T) was eagerly anticipated. The entire audience expected it was going to be an epic showdown, but this was not to be. From early in the first game Cumberbatch who, is deceptively quick and light on his feet, got to every shot that Ramasra could come up with. Up to this point Ramasra had looked like the man to beat coming into the final, but he was totally outplayed by Cumberbatch. The Bajan easily took the first game at 9/4. The second game was more of what the audience expected: long, intense rallies together with some amazing digs and gets by both players. Again Ramasra went up early in the second game but after a series of handouts, Cumberbatch broke Ramasra down and won this game, 9/7. After that Ramasra was a broken man. The third game was a blow out as Ramasra did not get to serve as Cumberbatch imperiously reeled off nine successive points to record an emphatic 9/4 9/7 9/0 victory to claim his first Senior CASA title.
Full results on Day 4 were as follows:
Ladies Consolation – 7/8th Place
Kimberly Farah (T&T) def. Nadia McCarthy (Bar) 4/9, 9/1, 9/5, 9/1
Men’s Consolation – 7/8th Place
Charlie Sonson (OECS) def. Paul Deverteuil (T&T) by default
Ladies Consolation – 5/6th Place
Jennifer Armstrong (Bar) def. Anita Bicknell (Jam) 10/8, 9/2, 7/9, 8/10, 9/7
Men’s Consolation – 5/6th Place
Nicholas Kyme (Ber) def Josh Pinard (T&T) 9/5, 9/6, 9/7
Ladies – 3/4th Place
Cheri-Ann Parris (Bar) def. Rhea Khan (T&T) 9/1, 2/9, 9/2, 9/2
Men – 3/4th Place
Chris Binnie (Jam) def Shawn Simpson (Bar) 5/9, 10/8, 9/0, 9/6
Ladies Final
Karen Anderson (Jam) def Karen Meakins (Bar) 2/9, 9/3, 9/6 5/9, 9/4
Men’s Final
Gavin Cumberbatch (Bar) def Colin Ramasra (T&T) 9/4, 9/7, 9/0
