Newly crowned Caribbean girls’ Under-19 champion Keisha Jeffrey and her sister, Kayla, got off to good starts on Wednesday when they both racked up wins in the first round of the of the World Women’s Junior Squash Championships currently ongoing at the Harvard University, Boston, USA.
Keisha defeated Ecuador’s Nicole Bravo 3 – 1 to advance to the second round of the tournament while Kayla took down Netherlands Laura Lagerweij in straight games, 11 – 8, 11 – 8, 11 – 5.
Keisha captured the first two games 11 – 8, 11 – 7, before Bravo managed to muster an 8 – 11 win in the third set.
However, Keisha was not through yet and ended Bravo’s run in the main draw with an 11 – 5 win.
The former Caribbean Under-17 champion, was outmanoeuvred in the second round when she took on Germany’s Caroline Sayegh losing 2 – 3 in the best of five games encounter.
Keisha had looked poised for a win of the after winning the first two sets 11 – 8, 11 – 4, but in a complete turnaround Sayegh rebounded to take the next three games 11 – 8, 11 – 8, 11 – 3.
Kayla also found herself ousted in the second round as she was overpowered 5-11, 2-11, 0-11 by England’s Emily Whitlock. Guyana’s Ashley Khalil, who drew a bye in the first round, lost in the second round of the tournament to Germany’s Steffi Rosner, who won the match 4-11, 8-11, 5-11. Guyana’s other participant at the championship, Mary Fung-a-Fat was defeated 8-11, 8-11, 6-11, by Australia’s Jessica Turnbull.
The girls did not fare much better in the consolation round. Keisha lost 1 – 3 (6-11 11-8 11-7 11-7) Nikki Heijden of The Netherlands and by a similar margin to Fiona Murphy of Wales; Kayla lost to Germany’s Laura Kutsch (11-1 11-9 11-5) and later against Russia’s Alexandra Fuller (11-2 11-1 11-6)while Fung-a-Fat lost 0 – 3 to India’s Lakshya Ragavendran.
