LE MERIDIEN PEGASUS OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Nov 05, 2008 Sports

Squires, Daly-Ramdyhan retain crownsDefending champions Phillip Squires and Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan successfully retained their respective titles, but not before surviving two testing encounters in the finals of the 2008 Le Meridien Pegasus Open Tennis Championships which ended last Monday, at the Hotel’s Hardcourts.

In the Men’s final, Squires after dropping the opening set 6-7 (9-11) in a tie-break to Ezra Sue-Ho, recovered to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-3 and the match against an opponent who had dispatched #2 seeded Anthony Downes in their semi-final clash.

In the Ladies final, multiple champion Daly-Ramdyhan had to perform a similar stunt to defeat a determined Carol Humphrey 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in an enthralling battle which saw both players provide the fans with some entertaining and lengthy rallies.

The match between Squires, who was returning to bid for his fourth consecutive win and the rising star Sue-Ho was always anticipated to be an interesting affair, especially since the latter’s impressive victory over Downes and he immediately showed his talent by matching Squires point for point, before grabbing the first set in a tense tiebreak.

Needing to change his tactics to stay in the contest, Squires quickly realized that engaging the youthful Sue-Ho in a slugfest was not the best formula and begun to use his famous top spin lobs that slowed the pace of the ball significantly and it caused his opponent much discomfort as he hit some erratic returns and long forehands out of court.

Squires broke repeatedly for an easy win.
Sue-Ho then gave a brave display in the deciding set, but Squires was in full rhythm and after the set was tied at 3-3 won the next three games to etch his name once again on the Shield.

The Ladies match was a scorcher as Berbician Humphrey got off to a solid start and raced to a 3-0 lead through some well placed forehand shots, breaking Daly-Ramdyhan in the process.

The defending champion held service for the first time in the set in the fourth game and proceeded to break Humphrey in the next after a change in strategy which saw her begun to charge the net with more frequency to trail 2-3 and back on serve.

She, however, surrendered the next game as Humphrey broke for a 4-2 advantage executing some crunching forehand shots down the line.
A double-fault by Daly-Ramdyhan handed Humphrey the opening set.

Daly-Ramdyhan broke immediately at the start of the second set and held serve for a 2-0 lead.
After Humphrey had tied the stanza at 2-2, she then raced to a 5-2 advantage and then held serve to level the match.

Both players produced some blistering tennis in the final set and were locked together at 5-5, before Daly broke to take a decisive 6-5 lead and serving for the rubber.

The excitement of gaining another title seemed to get the better of her and she quickly found herself down 0-40 as a crosscourt backhand by Humphrey screamed past a lunging Daly-Ramdyhan gave her three set points, but displaying the heart of a true champion, Daly-Ramdyhan serving with unerring accuracy delivered some bullet-like serves to level the set at deuce.

She then ended the contest with a crushing first serve to add her name another time to the plaque.
General Manager of the le Meridien Pegasus Bert Plas in his remarks congratulated the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association and more directly the coordinator of the tournament Phillip Squires for a well run event, calling it the best organised in years.