Spectators?had to wait until the last of the eight scheduled matches to see the first upset in the Men’s “B” section of the First Citizens Barbados Squash Open which started at the Barbados Squash Club, Marine Gardens Tuesday night.
In a match that went the distance, Martin Bryan defeated the experienced No. 3 seed Norman Rice 11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9.
Rice had trouble keeping his usually deadly high-arcing lob serves in the court and quickly found himself down two games to love.
After dropping those two games, the clearly fatigued Rice seemed to be out of it in the third game and, at 10-7 up, Bryan served for the match with three match balls in hand.
Rice had other ideas and fought back bravely to win the next four points. After losing only one more rally, he claimed the third game 13-11.
Rice seemed re-energized and won the fourth game 11-6.
In the decisive fifth game, neither player could build a decisive lead with scores locked at 5-5 and then 7-7.
Tension mounted both on and off the court as Rice pulled ahead 9-8, only two points away from a massive come-from-behind victory.
But it was not to be. Bryan held his nerve down the stretch and claimed the next two points to reach his fourth match ball at 10-9 up.
He eventually ended the contest by hammering an unreachable drive down the forehand wing to claim his massive 5-3 victory in 40 minutes.
The other matches played true to form, with straight games victories to the higher ranked player in all cases except for the top seed, Andrew Nunes.
He had to work hard to quell the challenge of Under-17 junior team representative, Brandon Straker, who took the first game before Nunes steadied himself to win in four close games 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5. (PR/SAT)
Results
Men’s “B” 2nd Round
Andre Nunes def. Brandon Straker 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5
Copeland Straker def. Benjamin Griffith 11-7, 14-12, 11-3
Martin Bryan def. Norman Rice 11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9
Martin Goddard def. Rithew Saywack 11-4, 11-1, 11-5
Michael Best def. Khamal Cumberbatch 11-5, 12-10, 11-5
Peter Harris def. James Ince 11-5, 11-3, 11-5
1st round
Ruairidh (Rory) Mackenzie def. Shemane Griffith 11-7, 11-5, 11-3
Daniel Jordan def. Andre Griffith 11-8, 11-7, 11-6
