Commonwealth Doubles Challenge
     Hawkes & Serme 2 West & Blair 1

[2] Jenny Duncalf (Eng) bt [4] Madeline Perry (Irl)
        11/8, 11/8, 11/5 (42m)
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (Aus)
          11/5, 11/7, 11/9 (30m)

Cameron Stafford (Cay) bt Shawn Simpson (Bar)
         11/8, 11/4, 13/15, 4/11, 11/5 (40m)

Extras: #2 A court for Cayman

Cedrus Investments pro workshop, and buying a glass court ....

The player and the spectators are nice and dry ... pity the poor photographers ...

[2] Jenny Duncalf (Eng) bt [4] Madeline Perry (Irl)
        11/8, 11/8, 11/5 (42m)

Jenny goes one better

Semi-finalist here last year, Jenny Duncalf went one better as she reached the Cayman Open final with a solid 3/0 win over British rival Madeline Perry to take her head to head record over the Irishwoman to 9-4.

It's a good job she didn't wear her favourite yellow, as she would have blended in nicely with the front row of the crowd, decked out in bright yellow ponchos as the Caribbean rain fell.

Madeline led 4/2 and 7/6 in the first, but aided her own downfall with a couple of errors which Jenny gratefully accepted as she took the lead. In the second Madeline worked hard to establish an 8/4 advantage, but this time the Englishwoman's recovery was largely her own doing, taking seven in a row to double her advantage.

She carried the momentum into the third, quickly going 7/1 up and although Madeline got as close as 8/5, helped by errors from her opponent, Jenny closed out the match with three good winners.

"It was much hotter on there today," she said afterwards to the surprise of the wrapped-up spectators, "and humid too. So it was tough, Madeline made me work hard, it's usually 3-1 ish between us so to win 3/0 is a bonus.

"I had a bit of a dip in the middle of the second, but I was pleased with how I dug in and with my focus overall, it was importand to get the seconds and I managed to carry that momentum to get a good start in the third.

"It's good to go one better here than last time, you always want improvement, but it would be nice to go two better ..."

Cameron Stafford (Cay) bt Shawn Simpson (Bar)
         11/8, 11/4, 13/15, 4/11, 11/5 (40m)

Cameron causes Cayman celebration

Well, Cameron Stafford certainly has a following - as he won his Men's Caribbean Challenge semi-final against giant Shawn Simpson the yellow-suited spectators erupted, the music started, and in those immortal words, the crowd were on the pitch, they knew it was all over ... until tomorrow.

It could have been different - Cameron could easily have won 3/0, and he might just as easily have lost, which probably contributed to the nature of the celebrations.

"That was the best I've seen you play," Dan Kneipp told him after the match, and he certainly was good as he dominated the first two games. He was goo too in coming from 10/6 down in the third, earning match balls at 11/10 and 13/12 but couldn't take them.

It didn't look good as he subsided in the fourth and fell to an early 3/0 deficit in the decider, but he found the spark again from somewhere, started to dominate again and soon enough it was cue the celebrations ...
 

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [3] Rachael Grinham (Aus)
          11/5, 11/7, 11/9 (30m)

Clinical Nicol

"That was a clinical display," said Nicol's coach Liz Irving of her ward's progress to a second consecutive Cayman Open final.

It was too, although having won 23 of your last encounters is likely to give you a head start, confidence-wise, against any opponent, even one as experienced and skilful as Rachael Grinham.

Not that Rachael didn't play well, her shots were as good as usual, just not as effective against someone who was moving as quickly and easily as Nicol. The Malaysian pulled away convincingly from 6/5 in the first, took a 6/2 lead in the second and held off Rachael's attempted recovery.

The third was the closest of the games, point for point to 5-all, Rachael taking a hat-trick of points to lead 9/7, but somehow you just didn't feel that Nicol was in the mood to drop a game, and sure enough four points later she was in the final.

"I know when I play Rachael that if she gets a chance to play her shots they'll go in, so I have to play mine first," explained the world champion. "She always brings my game up when we play, it's always a good show, I just have to keep my focus and play the right shots at the right time."