Digicel Senior National Squash Championships…
‒ Fernandes humbles Khalil
The Digicel Senior National Squash Championships concluded on Saturday evening with Alex Arjoon retaining his men’s title; Nicolette Fernandes dethroning defending champion Ashley Khalil, to again recapture the women’s title; and Joe Mekdeci winning both the Veterans 35-49 and Over-50 titles.
On a night wherein squash of the highest quality was displayed in all of the matches, Alex Arjoon and Richard Chin provided a men’s final of the highest standard, with both players pushing themselves to the limit. Alex won a long first game 12-10, and then won an even longer second game by the same score: 12-10. But with years of experience under his belt, Chin fought back to win the third game 11-6.
Although these three games had obviously taken their toll on both players, no quarter was conceded by either player. Arjoon progressed to an early 4-love lead in the fourth game; and at 8- 4, the proverbial fat lady had appeared ready to sing, but Chin was in no mood to listen to her music. He staged a remarkable comeback to get to 7-8; and when Arjoon reached match ball at 10-8, Chin again dug deeply into his experience to win the next two points and tie the score at 10-all. But Arjoon was not to be denied, and he closed out the match by winning the next two points and the game at 12-10.
In the ladies final, Nicolette Fernandes, who had not played in the last two national open tourneys, saw the first game of her final go back-and-forth, with Khalil holding her own against this world-rated player.
At 9-7, Khalil was two points away from taking the crucial first game when Fernandes dropped gear in a manner of speaking and won the next four points and the first game 11-9. The second game was also close, but Nicolette always seemed in control, and won by an 11-8 score.
The loss of these two games seemed to empty the fight from Ashley, and Nicolette easily won the third game at 11-1, losing just one point in the process.
In the men’s third-place playoff, Nyron Joseph and Kristian Jeffrey fought it out for five hard games before Nyron won the first game 13-11. But Kristian bounced back to take the second game 11-5, and the third at 12-10.
The win of this third game seemed to sap all of Kristian’s energy, and he lost the fourth game 0-11. And then, after leading 4-2 in the fifth game, lost the next nine points to concede victory to Nyron with the score at 11- 4.
