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Women's Final:
[1] Nicolette Fernandes (Guy) bt [2] Karen Meakins (Bar)
          12/10, 11/7, 11/4

Men's Final:
[3/4] Chris Binnie (Jam) bt [3/4] Colin Ramasra (T&T)
          11/9, 11/8, 11/4

Nicolette's back as
Binnie powers to men's title

The women's final was a repeat of the 2005 CASA Final, this year's Southern Caribbean Final, and this afternoon's opening round of team matches! Nicolette Fernandes won all three of those encounters, started as favourite and duly collected the title.

In the men's final Colin Ramasra, who has the highest world ranking of those here, was looking to go one better than his runners-up spot last time out, but faced determined opposition from first-time finalist Chris Binnie.

A new champion was guaranteed whatever the outcome, but it was the Jamaican whose will prevailed on the night.
 

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"It's disappointing to lose, obviously. I've put a lot of work in this year and I thought there was a chance it could be my year, but it wasn't to be.

"Nicolette players well, and I just lost to a better player on the day ..."

[1] Nicolette Fernandes (Guy) bt [2] Karen Meakins (Bar)
          12/10, 11/7, 11/4

Nicolette's back

It's been a long road back for Nicolette Fernandes, after an injury in 2007 sidelined her for 18 months, meaning the former world #28 had to start right at the bottom again in March this year. She'll feel she's truly back now, after recapturing the CASA title that was hers back in 2005.

Second seed Karen Meakins, determined as she always is, threw up a stern challenge though. Resuming from where they left off at lunchtime, the first game was close all the way, 3-all, 6-all, 9-all, then 10-all as Nicolette missed a game ball opportunity with a mishit into the tin.

Not to worry, she hit a crisp volley drop to earn another, then took the game on a stroke.

The second started in the same vein, Karen inching ahead at 4-3, but Nicolette's precision was starting to tell and her opponent was forced to do more of the work to stay in touch. A 7-4 lead was converted 11-7 and the lead was doubled.

The Guyanan was never headed in the third, and headed towards the title with increasing confidence - a casual off-backhand crosscourt long drop into the nick to reach 9-4 told us what we needed to know Two rallies later it was all over, and Guyana had the first gold medal of the championships.

Welcome back Nicolette ...

"She won the first game this morning, so I knew I had to be focused from the start to stop that happening again, if you lose the first anything can happen, and I was a bit edgy at the start.

"But we play each other a lot, so we know each other's games, it's always going to be close so winning the first was important.

"I was feeling more myself by the third, and was pretty pleased with how I was playing by the end.

"It's great to be back - it took me three or four years to get to #28 in the world, then about eight months to drop right to the bottom! But I've been back since March this year, I'm hoping to play more tournaments over the next few months - finances willing - to try to get back to where I was.

"Dan did a great job organising the Cayman Open in May, but when I heard he'd taken this on at short notice I thought he must be mad! But we knew he'd do a good job, and he has, it's a great tournament so far!"!

[3/4] Chris Binnie (Jam) bt [3/4] Colin Ramasra (T&T)
              11/9, 11/8, 11/4

Binnie bags Caribbean crown

The men's final followed a similar pattern to the women's, two tight first games before the eventual victor claimed the third more easily to take the title.

And the first two really were tough, Jamaica's Chris Binnie having the slight edge on power, T&T's Colin Ramasra having the defter touch, if he could prize out the opportunities to use it, but both were giving their all, and the bipartisan crowd were getting noisily involved.

Chris held a slender lead in the first, opened it out to 10-7 but was relieved to get a stroke on his third and last game ball.

Colin started the second better, kept control up to 8-6, but saw the last five points disappear - two Jamaican winners, three T&T tins - and he was looking up a mountain.

He started up the foothills, going point for point in the first half of the third, but from 4-all Binnie's will to win took over and Colin, forced on to the defensive, lost the next seven points - three Jamaican winners, four T&T tins - as Chris steamed through the final part of the match to add a senior Caribbean title to his four junior crowns.

"I knew it would be tough against Colin, he's got a lot of experience and fitness from playing PSA, but the first two games were tougher than I thought. I was so glad to take those two, I was just hanging in there.

"From the middle of the third I was tired, but I could see that he was feeling it too. I couldn't believe it when the points just kept coming, and it was awesome to get that last one!

"It's been a great tournament, and the introductions tonight were a real treat, I've never had that before.

!I'll go back to [Trinity] college after the tournament, but I'll definitely be back here next year for the Cayman Open, I'll make sure I get time off for that ..."

Team Orders

The opening round of pool matches proved productive for the Cayman Island hosts, as their Men's, Women's and Vets' teams all scored resounding wins.

The ladies were the first to finish, Marlene West and Caroline Heal making their debuts after missing the individual competition and leading the team to a 5-0 opener against Jamaica.

The Vets team were also up against the Jamaicans, and moved out to a 4-0 lead before Jamaica pulled back a consolation point in the Women's O40 matchup.

The men's team faced a potentially tough encounter against Bermuda, but completed a clean sweep of wins with a 5-0 victory. The match marked the return to competitive action of tournament director Dan Kneipp, who was naturally delighted to make a winning start for his adopted country.

"I said it was going to be ugly, and it was, but at least I managed to get the win. It helped that the team were already 3-0 up when I went on, it took the pressure off a little.

"You probably saw why the person running the tournament shouldn't be playing in it - just because I'm the brother of a great player doesn't mean I'm a great player.

"To paraphrase the great Nicolette Fernandes: "I entered the court a boy and left a man".

Fernandes herself was in action for the Guyana women's team, and found herself up against Barbados's Karen Meakins, who she plays tonight in the individual final! Nicolette won 3-1 but Barbados took the match with a 3-2 win.

Trinidad & Tobago, whose men's and women's teams missed out the opening round - both play their two pool matches tomorrow -  turned out in force to support their Vets team who stormed to a 4-1 win over Guyana to go joint top of the table with Cayman.

Men's top seeds Barbados opened up with a win over Guyana, but the first three matches were all hard-fought affairs, Shawn Simpson putting Barbados 3-0 up well after all the other matches had finished ... and eventually triumphed 5-0.
 

Teams Day One Slideshow