The 2017 Digicel Senior National Squash Championships continued on Thursday evening at the Georgetown Club Courts with quarter-final matches in the Men’s and Women’s Open, first round men’s plate matches, and round-robin matches in the men’s Veterans categories.
With the exception of one of the top men’s seeds, all other seeded players have reached the semi-finals of the two main draws.
Former national champion Nyron Joseph created a mini upset when he defeated the higher seeded Jason Ray Khalil in their quarter final match, an epic encounter in which both players displayed their amazing talents in long rallies and breath-taking retrieves.
Alex Arjon
Jason Ray won the first game 11-9 and then the second game 11-7. With Ray leading 10-7 match ball in the third game, it seemed all over for Nyron, but he clawed his way back to 10-all, and finally won the third game 13-11. Nyron then won the fourth game 11-7 and secured a hard-fought victory with his 11-6 win in the fifth game.
Defending champion Alex Arjoon displayed a high level of expertise to defeat Nicolette Fernandes in straight games 11-5, 11-9, 11-1, while Kristian Jeffrey proved too good for Shomari Wiltshire as he defeated him 11-7, 11-4, 11-6.
The number 2 seed, Richard Chin, showed himself no easy pushover with a semi-final win against Jean Claude Jeffrey 11-6, 11-4, 11-2.
In the Women’s Open, all four of the top seeds easily progressed into the semi-final stage. Top seed Nicolette Fernandes defeated Makeda Harding 11-1, 11-5, 11-1, while defending champion Ashley Khalil beat Sarah Lewis 11-3, 11-3, 11-2. Former national champion Mary Fung-A-Fat was too good for Rebecca Low, winning 11-4, 11-0, 11-4; while Taylor Fernandes defeated Victoria Arjoon 11-6, 13-11, 11-5.
In the Men’s Plate, Nicholas Narain had to come from two sets down to defeat Regan Pollard 9-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4, while Ben Mekdeci dropped a game before defeating Peter Michael De Groot 11-5, 9-11, 11-2, 11-4.
In the Men’s Veterans 35/49 age group, Allan Downes defeated Robin Low 11-4, 12-10, 11-4, and Khalil Alli beat Medhi Ramdhani 11-5, 11-2, 11-8.
In the Men’s Veterans Over-50 game, Joe Mekdeci beat David Fernandes 8-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-3.
Today’s final round matches start at 16:30 hrs.
