The KPMG Jamaica Squash League kicked off its much-anticipated season with defending champions, Advantage General Insurance (AGI), securing comfortable victories in their first-round matches at the Liguanea Club. The 16-team league, sponsored by KPMG and organized by the Jamaica Squash Association (JSA), witnessed AGI's strong start, reaffirming their status as the team to beat.
AGI made strategic changes to its four-member lineup for the opening night, introducing Fitzroy Smith and Darren Latchman in place of Julian Morrison and Stephan Morrison. The core team members, Dave Morrison and Tahjia Lumley, remained from the previous year, displaying the squad's versatility.
The lineup adjustments proved inconsequential as AGI dominated their opening round matches. All-Jamaica champion, Tahjia Lumley, showcased his prowess in a thrilling battle against Robert Chin of Squashbucklers. Despite the handicap challenges, Lumley emerged victorious in three sets with scores of 21/18, 21/18, and 21/19, setting the tone for AGI's success.
Reflecting on his performance, Lumley expressed satisfaction with the match and acknowledged the added challenge of handicapped scoring. "It was good. I haven't played a handicapped scoring match since last year's finals, so it's obviously different. My handicapped has dropped significantly to minus three points, so everybody that I play this year is gonna be even harder to compete against them," said Lumley.
Dave Morrison continued AGI's winning streak by defeating Alexis Robinson in a hard-fought contest, securing the match with scores of 15/21, 21/17, 23/21, and 21/17. Fitzroy Smith followed suit with a straight-sets victory over Peter Walker with scores of 21/17, 21/15, and 21/19.
Looking ahead, AGI is poised for the next stage of group matches, with Lumley emphasizing the team's focus on navigating each match strategically. The second round matches are set to commence on Tuesday, March 12, at the Liguanea Club and UWI's Senior Common Room, promising more exciting squash action in the ongoing KPMG Jamaica Squash League.
Smith & Burrowes to meet in final of Inaugural Jamaica Invitational squash tournament
Top seeds Ashante Smith and Bruce Burrowes are set to battle it out to be crowned champions of the inaugural Jamaica Invitational Squash tournament at the Liguanea Club later on Saturday after disposing of their semi-final challengers Friday night.
In the first semi-final, the number two seed Burrowes defeated number four seed Stephan Morrison in straight sets with scores of 11-1, 11-2, 11-7 to end Morrison’s unblemished run in the tournament.
Burrowes, who was happy with the win, said that it was not as easy as the scores suggest.
“I am quite happy, just happy with how I played today. Just happy to get on to another round. Just taking it one point at a time. I had a good start coming out of the gate so I was quite happy with the way I started the match. Stephan may have been a little slow to wake up but by the end he was definitely running around and sometime the score doesn’t really show how close a match can be. The score sounds dominant but the rallies were really difficult to get through.”
The final match of the night which was the second semi-final between number one seed Smith and the number five seed Jonathan Hope of the Bahamas was a very exciting five-setter.
Smith started strong in the first two games but was overcome by Hope who was very efficient in the box. Smith turned the page on Hope to win the next two games in commanding fashion.
It was left to the final set to see who would outlast the other as they both looked winded in the box. Smith again started strong to post a quick 5-1 but Hope gained ground to tie the set at 10 all which meant that the eventual winner had to get two clear points to win. After some long rallies Smith took the set 12-10. The match ended with scores of 9-11, 7-11, 11-2, 11-5, 12-10.
“Honestly it was a lot of work. I can’t say that I took him for granted but I don’t think I went in with the right game plan initially. I think I kinda overworked myself and really had to dig deep to really get those two games and then finish it off with the third one. (It) definitely wasn’t an easy game but I had to really adjust, I had to be creative and flexible and stick to a game plan that worked and I am glad it worked out, for sure” said Smith.
Other results from the third round include:
Men’s Draw –
Alex Chin defeated Elthan Miller 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
Adam Lee defeated Mario O’Connor 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7
The number three see Jerazeno Bell got the better of Leonel Sorrillo of Trinidad & Tobago 11-4, 11-5, 11-9
Women’s Draw –
The undefeated number two seed Sanjana Nallapati got a commanding win over Priya Stoddart in straight sets 11-3, 11-0, 11-5
The number three seed Tracey Binnie got the better of Kerry-Gay Wright 11-7, 11-7, 16-14.
In the final female match of the night the number four seed Elle Wilson stretched the number one seed and still unbeaten Mehar Trahan to a thrilling five setter with scores of 4-11, 11-4, 5-11, 12-10, 10-12.
Saturday’s final day action will see a males and female champion being crowned. Additionally matches will be played to determine the position placements for all players in the tournament, both.
Top seeds continue winning streak at inaugural Jamaica Invitational squash tournament
The top seeds in the Jamaica Squash Association’s inaugural Jamaica Invitational tournament continued their winning runs on Thursday’s second day of action on the courts at the Liguanea Club.
Number one seed on the female side, Mehar Trehan, recorded another straight sets win when she defeated Kerry-Gay Wright 11-2, 11-3, 11-4. On the male side, Ashante Smith got a bye in the first round, then in the second round he was challenged by Leonel Sorrillo of Trinidad and Tobago but was too good for him. Their match also ended in straight sets after Smith outscored Sorrillo 14-12, 11-5, 11-4.
Meanwhile, number two seed Sanjana Nallapati got a second win after defeating number three seed Tracey Binnie 11-6, 11-3, 11-2.
Number four seed Elle Wilson got her first win against unseeded Priya Stoddart in straight sets—11-6, 11-9, 11-4.
In the men’s draw, number two seed Bruce Burrowes defeated the number eight seed Fitzroy Smith 11-3, 11-3, 11-5.
Number three seed Jerazeno Bell went down to Jonathan Hope of the Bahamas in a four-setter 6-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5. Hope has won the two matches he has played so far.
Number four seed Stephan Morrison defeated sixth seed Tobias Levy in an exciting five-setter with scores of 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5.
The other match of the round saw Mario O’Connor defeating Andre Wright 11-4, 11-3, 11-9.
The men’s semifinals were played last night while the women continued their round-robin matches.
Top seeds comfortable on day one of Jamaica Invitational
Top women’s seed Mehar Trehan led all winners on Wednesday’s day one of the inaugural Jamaica Invitational held at the Liguanea Club in Kingston.
Trehan, the U17 Caribbean Champion and reigning local champion, defeated Priya Stoddart in straight sets 11-5, 11-1, 11-2.
She spoke about her expectations for the tournament after her win.
"My expectations for this tournament would be to just see all the hard work that I've been putting in recently into my next few matches and challenge myself mentally and physically. The competition is quite broad and there's different types of players and I'd just like to challenge myself and see how I can better perform in the next tournaments to come," she said.
"I trust myself to play well, to the best of my ability and with a good heart and spirit and I think everything will work out," she added.
Second seed Sanjana Nallapati, the third-ranked U19 player in the Caribbean and a Caribbean Girls Doubles Champion, also won in straight sets, defeating Kerry-Gay Wright 11-7, 11-5, 11-5.
Third seed Tracy Binnie also came out victorious in three sets, defeating fourth seed Elle Wilson 11-1, 11-4, 11-7.
On the men’s side, Guyanese third seed Jerazeno Bell got by Allan Roper 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 in a tight three set affair.
Fourth seed Stephan Morrison got by Mario O’Connor 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 while fifth seed Jonathan Hope from the Bahamas was dominant in a win over Ethan Miller, 11-3, 11-2, 11-3.
Hope, the highest ranked visiting player, spoke about his expectations coming into the tournament.
“Coming into the tournament I had no real expectations of what to expect other than I knew that, having been here a long time ago, that I’d be welcomed by a friendly squash community and it would be an awesome event to be a part of,” he said.
“Having had very little time to prepare, more or less two weeks before the tournament, my main focus has been on making sure that I can play efficiently and effectively. I realize that many of the people I’m hoping to be playing against are somewhat younger then myself so, chances are, they would have stamina and fitness on me so I have to be much more thoughtful about how I play my shots and hos I use my energy,” he added.
Sixth seed Tobias Levy of Jamaica defeated countryman Andre Wright 11-5, 11-6, 11-4.
The closest match of the day saw eighth seed Fritzroy Smith defeating Adam Lee in four sets. Smith won the first two sets 11-9 and 11-5 before Lee won the third 11-3.
Smith ended up closing it out inn four with an 11-6 score line.
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