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Sat 10th, Day One
 With
the schedule finalised, it was down to the action this morning,
starting at 9am on six courts and finishing somewhere around 9pm
(with the opening ceremony at 3pm).
As ever with events like this, all we can really do in the early
stages is to give an impression of what's going on, until it
settles down -that'll be the semis tomorrow then.
First up today it was the little ones, with some of them looking
very much under 13, and some of the bigger ones getting very
excited about it all ...
Some early upsets to report - Guyana's Patrick Fraser
toppled 5/8 seed Khamal Cumberbatch in the Boys U13, while in
the U17 Romario Constance of the OECS came from two games
down put out 3/4 seed Josh Mahfood.
Bermuda's Beau Orchard continued the cull of the U17
seeds, taking out 5/8 rated Matthew McKenzie 13/11 in the fifth.
In the girls events, just the one shock so far with T&T's
Talia Abdool overcoming 3/4 seed Erika Robertson in straight
games in the U17 section.
 "I
was making too many mistakes in the first two games, I
just needed to cut them out ...
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 "It's
the first time I'd played her so I didn't know what to
expect, but I'm very pleased to have won!
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After the opening ...
After the opening ceremony (photos in the gallery, video to
follow), it was back to the squash, with home favourite and top
seed Cameron Stafford making no mistake in his opening
U19 match, easing through to the quarter-finals.
The U13 girls saw a couple of upsets though, as 5/8 seeds
Demi Ollivierre of OECS and Trinidad's Faith Gillezeau
both beat higher-ranked opponents to ensure at least one
finalist ios unexpected. The other semi features top seed
Alyssa Mullins and Taylor Fernandez, as expected.
In the boys' youngest division the second seed also fell, at the
hands of 5/8 seed Ben Mekdeki, the Guyanese who now meets
home player Julian Jervis in the semis. The other semi is
between top seed Iain McCallum, also from Cayman, and
OECS's Jason Doyle.
In the under 15 girls, only one minor surprise in the semis,
Barbados's Gylla Mackenzie sneaking into the mix as a 5/8
seed, but the boys' division went completely to seeding, the top
eight set to face off in the quarters tomorrow morning.
 The
home supporters enjoyed seeing Eilidh ("Hayley without
the H")Bridgeman make the semis as a 5/8 seed, putting
out this morning's giant-killer Talia Abdool in straight games
to set up a meeting with top seed Mary Fung-A-Fat. The
other semi is also Cayman v Guyana with Kristina Myren
set to meet second seed Ashley Degroot.
Someone who did take two scalps in a day was Romario
Constance, this time he beat 5/8 seed Nick Cameron in four
games to set up a semi against second seed Jason Ray Khalil.
Top seed Noah Browne is safely through - egged on by
raucous calls of "Lety's go T&T let's go ..." from the gallery,
something we'll no doubt be hearing more tomorrow!
No upsets in the U19 girls though, top seed Keisha Jeffrey
will meet 3/4 seed Brooke Burrows of Jamaica, while
Keisha's sister Kayla will take on second seed Ashley
Kalil in an all-Guyanese semi.
 
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We're a world cup free zone ... |
Fri 9th, Day ZERO
 Friday
was arrival day as teams from all over the Caribbean made their
way to Grand Cayman, although some of the trips are less than
straightforward, five of the seven teams having to travel via
Miami, flying over their final destination on the way there
before the second leg.
For me it was a flight to Heathrow and from there to Nassau,
where those headed for Cayman wait on the plane while new
passengers - including the Bahamas team - board.
On arrival at the South Sound Club, it was immediately obvious
that a junior tournament was happening, the general hubbub was
almost deafening, as it surely will be for the next few days.
 The
managers' meeting where the seeds in each category are decided
was just concluding, which meant that tournament director Dan
Kneipp could get started on the draws - not an easy task since
the rules dictate that the top two players from each country
can't be in the same half, and that two players from the same
country can't meet in the first round - it reduces the possible
permutations, yes, but it does avoid those situations that occur
in many tournaments where players travel once a year, only to
find themselves playing someone they play every week anyway ... |
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