By Tiadi Blair
It was smooth sailing.
All of the top seeds in this year’s GT&T-sponsored national squash championships moved easily into the second round of the tournament Tuesday night at the Georgetown Club’s squash courts.
Among the players moving through were world ranked Nicolette Fernandes who is playing in both the men’s and women’s Open category and Kristian Jeffrey.
Ranked 104 by the World International Squash Players Association (WISPA), Fernandes breezed through her first round game against Nyron Joseph in the senior men’s match-up with an 11/5, 11/0, 11/5 win.
This could have been considered an easy match against a youngster who fought his hardest but futile attempt at recording a win throughout the game.
Fernandes recently moved up the world rankings from 115th to 104th. She was ranked as high as 27th in the world until a career-threatening injury caused her to slip down the charts.
Jeffrey, the defending men’s singles champion, was among the successful players to move into the next round. His opponent Andy Gouveia did not challenge him enough as the 11/2, 11/5 and 11/2 scores reflect.
Deje Dias was also an easy straight sets winner defeating Jason Ray Khalil 11-8, 11-1, 11-8.
Other men’s players heading into the next round are Alexander Arjoon, Raphael deGroot, Regan Pollard and Robert Fernandes who defeated Damian Fernandes, Alex Gouveia, Javier Grau and Steven Xavier respectively.
In the women’s singles Nicolette Fernandes automatically went through to the next round drawing a bye.
Top seeded players also moving into the next round were Kayla Jeffrey, Keisha Jeffrey and Ashley Khalil who all drew first round byes.
In the matches played, Victoria Arjoon, Chantelle Fernandes and Mary Fung-A-Fat won easily but Daina King was taken to four sets by Alysa Xavier before triumphing.
Arjoon defeated Lydia Fraser 11/6, 11/6, 14/12; Chantelle Fernandes defeated Ashley de Groot; Fung-A-Fat won against Gabrielle Fraser while King defeated Xavier.
Results from Tuesday night’s matches:
Ladies’ Open First Round
Victoria Arjoon defeated Lydia Fraser 11/6 11/6 14/12
Chantelle Fernandes defeated Ashley deGroot 11/9 11/9 12/10
Mary Fung-A-Fat defeated Gabrielle Fraser 11/2 11/1 11/0
Daina King defeated Alysa Xavier 11/4 18/16 5/11 11/8
Men’s Open First Round
Kristian Jeffrey defeated Andy Goveia 11/2 11/5 11/2
Deje Dias defeated Jason Ray Khalil 11/8 11/1 11/8
Alexander Arjoon defeated Damian Fernandes 11/4 11/6 11/3
Robert Fernandes defeated Steven Xavier 11/6 11/6 11/8
Nicolette Fernandes defeated Nyron Joseph 11/5 11/0 11/5
Jerozeno Bell defeated Nicholas Narain 11/4 11/2 11/0
Raphael deGroot defeated Alex Gouveia 11/7 11/3 11/8
Regan Pollard defeated Javier Grau 11/1 11/7 11/3.