Anthony Downes defeated defending champion Phillip Squires while Jeremy Miller reached the semifinals of the men’s singles of the Guyana Tennis Association (GTA) Le Meridien Pegasus Tennis Open tournament at the hotel’s courts.
Downes, who blasted Squires with some heavy forehands, won 6-2, 6-3 but will face another strong player in Leyland Leacock in his quest to reach the final.
In the Squires/ Downes match, Downes capitalized on his opponent’s inability to play consistently and forced the issue with some aggressive play. Downes serves and forehands were on song despite him being reportedly a bit under the weather with a bout of the flu and he quickly secured a break on Squires serve to go ahead, a lead he maintained on his way to taking the first set 6-2.
Squires had his moments in the set as he secured some break points which he could not convert as the unforced errors piled up. The second set saw Squires changing strategy and getting into a groove which saw the match being tied at two sets all.
Downes, who has lost to Squires on several occasions in the past, was however prepared for Squires this time around and raised his own level to pull away and take the set 6-3.
In the other quarter-final encounter, Leacock reached the semi-finals with an easy 6-0, 6-1 win over Benedict Sukra.
The other semi-finalist Miller, road to the last four included wins over Viraj Jugdeo who battled gamely in his 2-6, 1-6 defeat and Daniel Lopes, who lost 2-6, 2-6 and who failed to match Miller’s power from the baseline in their many rallies.
The men’s 35 years and under singles title was up for grabs last evening when last year’s runner up Carlos Adams faced off against Godfrey Lowden.
Lowden had earlier taken out defending champion Andre Lopes 4-6, 2-6.
Lowden also eliminated Harry Panday 6 – 3, 6 – 3. Adams’ run up to the finals included wins against Mario Niamatalli (6-0 6-1) and Rudy Grant (6-1 6-2) and Godfrey Lowden who got past Andre Lopes 6-4 6-2 and Harry Panday 6-3 6-3.
Also on the court last evening, Miller and partner Jason Andrews took on Gavin Lewis and Benedict Sukra for a place in the men’s doubles final.
