Trophy Stall Open Tennis tournament Lopes & Chand win Men’s doubles

Jan 28, 2020 Sports

Squash stars create major upset in mixed doubles on debut

The excitement, drama and one of the biggest upsets in local Tennis were ingredientsof a sumptuous two-day Trophy Stall Open Tennis tournament which climaxed at the Le Resouvenir Tennis Court on the East Coast of Demerara on Sunday night.

From left: Sandeep Khan and Andre Lopes beat Devon Gonsalves and Aubrey Younge in the Men’s doubles.

Following their victory on Saturday, Andre Lopes and Sandeep Chand defeated Devon Gonsalves and Aubrey Younge 3-6/6-2(10-6) on Sunday as the pair traded hard serves and long cross court forehand rallies before moving to the netto finish the point with vollies.
But the highlight of the tournament was the incredible performance of Squash stars Nicolette Fernandes and Kirstian Jeffery playing in the mixed doubles of their first Tennis tournament.
The transition from the Squash Court to Tennis Court for the 36-year-old Fernandes, who is also a very good Hockey player, looked seamless while 31-year-old former National Squash Champion Jeffery who is also an International Motor racer looked at home on the Tennis Court.
The pair beat National Junior Champion Afruica Gentle and fourth seeded Benjamin Osbourne 7-6(7-5)6-4.
Both Gentle, also a member of Guyana senior Women’s cricket squad and her partner Osbourne, played several big hitting power shots.
But the Canadian-born Fernandes Guyanese who won Gold in Squash in the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia and the multi-talented Jeffery countered with some Squash-like slices

Kristian Jeffrey & Nicolette Fernandes won the mixed doubles on Sunday night.

which confused their opponents
In the first set the score was 3-3 before Gentle and Osbourne went up to 5-2 but Fernandes and Jeffery fought back to take the score 6-all before the Squash players won the tie-break 7-4.
In the second set, the extremely fit looking Fernandes and Jeffery went to3-1 and then 5-2 before they were broken and the score went to 5-4 before they closed out on Fernandes’ serve.
On Saturday in Fernandes and Jeffery had teamed up in mixed double match up against Grace Mc Calmon and Javed Khan and dominated the proceeding to register an easy win
Watched by a large gathering which created a picnic-like atmosphere on the lawns, Javed khan & Kevin Matti defeated Andre Erskine & Gerald Scotland 6-3/7-5 while Lealand Leacock &Jordan Beaton defeated David Rose Philbert Clarke 6-1/6-3
In the other Mixed doubles matchRonald Murray &Fiona Bushell defeated Surendra Khayyam &Judy Khayyam 6-1/6-1. (Sean Devers)