Victor Ward looked the fitter of the two players before the rain came.
Rain interrupts play at road tennis tournament
Sat, 10/08/2016 - 12:00am
The rain had the last say on day two of the Round of 16 in the Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited Monarchs of the Court Road tennis tournament at the BET hard courts on Thursday.
In a close and intense match between Curtis Jones and Victor ‘Earth’ Ward the rain which had threatened for part of the night ended the match at the start of the third and deciding game.
Ward had worked hard during the game moving the ball around and displayed some impressive ability to put the ball where he wanted. His one fault may be that his attacking ability is not as dominant as his opponent Jones.
But fitness was sure to be a telling factor had the rain not interrupted after the second game as Jones was visibly the more fatigued of the two and could be seen taking heavy breaths in an effort to recover from the long and energy taxing rallies which Ward made him endure for two games.
Ward won the first game easily 21-16 with Jones spoiling the ball as Ward moved from from left to right during the rallies.
However in the second game Jones bounced back moving out forma 9-7 lead to hold a commanding 16-10 lead which he held on to win 21-15.
It was at the start of the third set with only one point played that the rain came and stopped play in the second match of the night. The organiser decided to play the final set on the following day which may just play into the hands of Jones who was tiring while Ward looked as fresh as the first point of the game.
The top women’s seeds had no problems on the night dominating their opponents in their matches. The first was the fifth seeded Susan Scantlebury who defeated Maudlyn Blunt 21-8, 21-10; Rachel Smith who is ranked #2 was even more efficient in her match dispatching of Lyn Marie Burgess 21-5, 21-9.
Abigail Fields ranked #6 capped off the women’s matches with a victory over Giselle Fields 21-5, 21-10.
In the other men’s match of the night Dario Hinds who is ranked #6 rolled over David ‘Jah Paul’ Phillips 21-14, 21-10.(CG)