By Kimberley Cummins
It was perhaps fitting after their game that the strains of Brucelee Almightee’s “Mauby” reverberated through the Wildey Gymnasium, as teenager Shakeem Nurse tore the bark off Dario “Rick Flair” Hinds last night to secure his spot in the final of the Barbados Road Tennis Open Championship. Almost tragically, chest pains prematurely ended a struggling Julian “Michael Jackson” White’s bid to make the final after being thoroughly dominated by Mark “Venom” Griffith.
Now, Nurse will face-off against Griffith in the men’s final and Kim Holder will battle Sheldene Waldron for women’s supremacy at Saturday’s final at the Wildey Gymnasium. If last night’s fabulous semi-finals were anything to go by, then it is clear that no player will be giving his or her competitor the $20,000 first prize up for grabs, on a platter.
Nurse for instance, though just 17 years old, signalled his seriousness and authority with a crushing three-sets straight victory over Hinds. The first game lasted just ten minutes and Hinds didn’t show much flair as he struggled to defend against Nurse’s aggressive attacks. One beautiful shot after the next by the teenager sent the large crowd wild and left Hinds visibly rattled as he trailed 11-4.
Hinds tried to regain his composure with several good exchanges and a good rally but he continued to find the net often. And though he tried to make several shots it wasn’t enough for the class demonstrated by the teen. You could see the tension etched on Hinds’ face as thoughts of a sow was evident. This could not be avoided and to the delight of the cheering supporters, Nurse sent Hinds to the swine’s pen with a 21-7 thrashing.
Mark Griffith had an easy win over Julian White.
Game 2 proved very much the same for Nurse. He looked quite comfortable again and in spite of a couple unforced errors that added to Hinds’ tally, Nurse was quick on the feet and continually increased his lead. Just when Hinds thought he could get a little reprieve, Nurse executed a terrific back arm drive that proved to be the final nail in Hinds’ coffin (21-11). In Game 3, Hinds came back with a few good shots of his own and took the lead 7-6. The two had some good exchanges in attack and defence but an injection by Nurse left Hinds stumbling and the former levelled the game at 10. A beautiful cross-court shot by Nurse moved him to a five-point lead at 16-11 and it was practically over. Hinds continued to fall apart and no amount of advice from his coach and drying of the racket could help as Nurse gained five straight points and took it home at 21-11.
In the match between Griffith and White, White never seemed quite like his iconic self that would have led him to win more than 52 titles over the years. Griffith started out strongly and led early, 11-7. White played a nice short ball that surprised Griffith, nonetheless, it wasn’t enough as Griffith increased his lead by nine points (17-8). At this point, White started to slow noticeably and it was evident something was wrong as Griffith won 21-9.
Sheldene Waldron made it into yet another final.
When it seemed that things were turning around for White who led 5-3 in Game 2, the 54-year-old could never maintain consistency. He struggled, constantly bending over or sitting in an effort to catch his breath. Granted there were some good rallies between the two but White was left winded as he trailed 7-12. Griffith delivered some beautiful back-arm shots that White could not answer, and he won that game 21-14. What was supposed to be a three-best of five match-up, ended suddenly as White retired in visible discomfort while tapping his chest .
It was not an easy road for top-seeded female champion Holder as Rachel Smith played very well – including forcing a deuce – and made her work hard to book her spot with a 2-1 result. Even though Holder came in as the favourite having defeated Smith over nine times on previous occasions, Smith created an early lead (5-2) in a show of confidence. But with several good rallies, that gap began to close as Holder won all five of her serve points. At no stage, though, did Smith give up as the two exchanged leads several times.
The crowd roared as it encouraged Holder, and with the assistance of an unforced error by Smith, Holder’s lead further increased to 16-11. With a number of strategically soft serves, Smith pulled her way back before levelling the scores at 20 as excitement in the crowd boiled over. It was a ding-dong battle and Smith was relentless in her challenge but in the end the game went to Holder 25- 23. Smith came back in Game two and won a close encounter, 21-19, while Holder returned to take Game 3 at 21-16.
Waldron had a relative cake walk against Maudlyn Blunt, winning 21-12, 21-17 and 21 11.
Kim Holder is all smiles after last night’s win.
