The top eight ladies seeds all passed safely through to the second round of the Ladies Open when action in the Trident Insurance Barbados Squash Open, continued at the Barbados Squash Club?s (BSC) Marine Gardens courts last night (Monday).
The Canadian top seed, Ruchika Kumar, ranked #10 in her country, received a first round bye and so did not have to play last night, but the other seven ladies seeds progressed with the collective loss of only one game. The second seed and Barbados’ top player and Caribbean #3, Karen Meakins defeated veteran Elizabeth Johnson 9/6 9/2 9/6, while the #3 seed Karen Anderson from Jamaica defeated Ayoni Bradshaw in straight games for the loss of only four points. The #4 seed, Sonia Perkins, also won comfortably in straight games against promising junior, Alexandra Leacock, for the loss of six points and the other seeds, Kathy Shuffler (Guyana), Andrea Goodridge, Lilianna White and Gen Shim (Trinidad) all looked impressive against Carolyn Last-Johnson, Sherice MacDonald, Tracy Roett and Edna Corbette respectively, with only Goodridge dropping a single game before progressing by three games to one.
Other action at the BSC last night saw the conclusion of the second round of the Men’s Preliminary Draw. All the 9 to 16 seeded players progressed safely to tonight?s third round only a few alarms. The closest match saw 9/16 seed, Fabien Magne (France), survive a real scare when he clawed his way back from 1-2 down and 1-5 down in the fourth game to prevail over the unseeded Craig Archer in five games: 9/6 8/9 7/9 9/5 9/4. Another 9/16 seed, John Cumberbatch, had to fight hard to overcome Rawle Jackson, who took the first game and put a brave fight for the next two before fading away in the fourth losing 6/9 9/4 9/4 9/0.
Full results were as follows (all Barbados players unless otherwise indicated):
Ladies Main Draw first round:
#5/8 Kathy Shuffler (Guyana) defeated Carolyn Last- Johnson (3-0) 9/1 9/0 9/0
#5/8 Andrea Goodridge defeated Sherice MacDonald (3-1) 9/2 2/9 9/7 9/0
#3 Karen Anderson (Jamaica) defeated Ayoni Bradshaw (3-0) 9/2 9/0 9/2
#4 Sonia Perkins defeated Alexandra Leacock (3-0) 9/0 9/3 9/3
# 5/8 Lilianna White defeated Tracy Roett (3-0) 9/6 9/2 9/4
# 5/8 Gen Shim (Trinidad) defeated Edna Corbette (3-0) 9/2 9/0 9/0
#2 Karen Meakins defeated Elizabeth Johnson (3-0) 9/6 9/2 9/6
Men’s Preliminary Draw second round:
#9/16 Bryant Cumberbatch defeated Mikey Hassell (3-0) 9/1 9/0 9/0
#9/16 David Patterson (Jamaica) defeated Andre Donawa (3-0) 9/1 9/0 9/1
#9/16 Ray Chan-a-Sue (Canada) defeated David Foster (3-0) 9/0 9/0 9/1
# 9/16 Fabien Magne (France) defeated Craig Archer (3-2) 9/6 8/9 7/9 9/5 9/4
# 9/16 John Cumberbatch defeated Rawle Jackson (3-1) 6/9 9/4 9/4 9/0
# 9/16 Nigel ?Dragon? Griffith defeated Steven Miller (3-0) 9/3 9/3 9/4
Kristian Jeffrey (Guyana) defeated Nkosi Ross (3-0) 9/0 9/0 9/2
Tariq Williams (Guyana) defeated Alex Jordan (3-1) 4/9 9/4 9/0 9/7
Third round action continues in the Men’s Preliminary Draw tonight (Tuesday) June 22nd at the Barbados Squash Club?s courts in Marine Gardens, Christ Church, beginning at 5:45 p.m. Also on court tonight (Tuesday) will be the third round of the Men’s Preliminary Draw as well as the first and second rounds of the Men’s Plate. The top eight seeded men will be seen on court on Wednesday night at the start of the Men’s Main Draw. Top players from France, Canada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Guyana will all be on show from then.
Admission to the Barbados Squash Club is free and refreshments are always on sale at the bar there. All spectators are welcome.
