PREDICTABLY, THE TOP FOUR seeds in both the men’s and women’s main draw advanced to the semi-finals of the 38th annual Barbados Olympic Association-sponsored National Squash Championships on Friday night.
They did so without any alarm and without dropping a single game between them to set up some highly anticipated match-ups in last night’s semis.
In the women’s draw, top seed and 11-time national champion Karen Meakins progressed with an easy 11-2, 11-6, 11-1 victory over Ayoni Bradshaw.
Meakins will face former national champion, and reigning Caribbean over-40 titleholder Kristina Evelyn, who also had an easy 11-1, 11-6, 11-8 win over talented Amanda Haywood, the current national under-13 champion.
Alex Jordan defeated another promising junior player, Gylla Mackenzie, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 and will now face No. 2 seed Lilianna White, who defeated Natalie Chesham 12-10, 11-6, 11-6 in a hard-fought match.
In the men’s draw, defending champion and top seed Bryant Cumberbatch defeated former eight-time national champion Mark Sealy 11-8, 11-4, 11-7.
The other Cumberbatch siblings also scored wins. Gavin Cumberbatch, the No. 3 seed, defeated Leon Truss in straight games 11-2, 11-3, 11-9, while Rhett Cumberbatch, seeded at No. 4, had a much harder task against Nigel “The Dragon” Griffith but still advanced in straight games 11-3, 11-7, 13-11.
In the last quarter-final, No. 2 seed Shawn Simpson faced former local junior champion Jonathan O’Dowd and comfortably won in three straight games 11-3, 11-5, 11-9. (EZS)
