Phillip Squires was Tuesday evening ousted from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Open men’s singles competition when he was toppled 6-3 3-6 6-3 by Anthony Downes at the tennis courts of the GBTI Recreational Facility, Bel Air Park.
In what was considered one of the highest quality tennis matches played in Guyana in recent years, Downes showed that he was more than a match for Squires.
Anticipated to be a spectacular showdown the boys did not disappoint the spectators as they traded groundstrokes but Downes’ forehand proved to be too much for Squires style of play.
Such was the quality of the play that a particular rally featured more than 30 strokes with Squires retrieving some near impossible balls while Downes painted the lines with his precise groundstrokes.
Downes was the first one to establish a lead in the game.
His consistency seemed to catch Squires off guard and led to him to capturing the first set.
Both players tried a more aggressive approach in the second set, and this proved to be more to Squires’ advantage.
Despite securing two breaks of Squires serve in the set, Downes’ costly double faults allowed Squires to go ahead and take the set 6-3 to even the match.
The struggle to hold serve continued in the third set and with the intense battle seeming to take its toll physically on Squires, Downes duly claimed the third set.
He will next come up against the winner of the match up between second seed Ezra Sue-Ho and Sandeep Chand.
In another men’s singles quarter final match,
Leyland Leacock ousted Nicholas Glasgow from the competition winning 6-2 6-0.
Meanwhile the father son team of Ezra and Rawle Sue-Ho kept up their run in the men’s doubles category defeating Gavin Lewis and his partner Daniel Lopes 6-4 6-3.
