The top-ranked Carlista Mohammed moved to with two wins of retaining her Women’s Open Singles crown when she swept past Zara Ghuran in their quarterfinal encounter of the 2019 Shell Tranquillity Open Tennis Tournament.
The tournament was halted at the quarterfinal stage nearly ten months ago due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and when competition resumed on Saturday at the Victoria Avenue, Port-of-Spain Tranquillity Clay Courts, Mohammed did not seem to miss a beat despite the long wait to resume her quest for yet another title.
A multiple national champion, Mohammed stayed focus despite the delay to the start of the match caused by a mid-day downpour of rain and ran out a 6-1, 6-4 winner to set up a semifinal at 3 pm today at the same venue with fellow national women’s Fed Cup player, Cameron Wong.
The third-seeded Wong defeated Jordane Dookie for the second time in their last three meetings while in the other semifinal, also from 3 pm today Osenyonye Nwokolo comes up against Ella Carrington.
Number two player Nwokolo rallied past Maria Honore 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 and Carrington stunned fourth-ranked Aalisha Alexis 6-2, 7-6 (3) in the two other last-eight match-ups.
The Men’s Open also resumed yesterday, but at the round-of-16 with reigning champion Akiel Duke, ranked second, sweeping past Joshua Boyce without dropping a game.
He was joined in the quarters by top-ranked Nabeel Mohammed, Ethan Wong, Keshan Moonasar, Vaugh Wilson, Richard Chung, Nathan Valdez and Luc Shamsi.
The men’s were scheduled to have another go in the evening session with their quarterfinal matches, but that was halted by the return of showers with Mohammed and Wilson having won the first set of the respective match-ups with Wong 6-2, and Moonasar, 6-3. The four men’s quarterfinal will resume Sunday from 10 am.
Saturday’s early results:
Men’s Singles Round-of-16:
Nabeel Mohammed bt Liu Chin 6-2, 6-2; Ethan Wong bt Ronald Robinson 6-2, 6-1; Keshan Moonasar bt Dexter Mahase 6-3, 6-3; Vaughn Wilson bt Tim Pasea 6-0, 6-0; Luc Shamsi bt Dunstan Denoon 6-2, 6-1; Richard Chung bt Kino Francis 6-4, 6-2; Akiel Duke bt Joshua Boyce 6-0, 6-0; Nathan Valdez bt Sebastien Sylvester 6-4, 6-0:
Quarterfinals:
Nabeel Mohammed leads Ethan Wong 6-2; Vaughn Wilson leads Keshan Moonasar 6-3; Luc Shamsi vs Richard Chung; Akile Duke vs Nathan Valdez
Women’s Singles Quarterfinals:
Osenyonye Nwokolo bt Maria Honore 4-6, 6-2, 6-0; Carlista Mohammed bt Zara Ghuran 6-1, 6-4; Cameron Wong bt Jordane Dookie 6-4, 7-5; Ella Carrington bt Aalisha Alexis 6-2, 7-6 (3).