Defending champion Blown defeated Racket Science 3-0 at the Liguanea Club in Kingston as the 16-team Jamaica Squash Association’s (JSA) KPMG Squash League opened on Tuesday night.

Blown’s captain Jake Mahfood got things rolling, brushing aside Roland Lattery in straight sets 23/20, 23/22 and 21/19. Andrew Bicknell then made it 2-0 in favour of Blown dispatching Racket Science’s Noelle Nicolas 21/16, 21/19 and 21/20. Fraser McConnell completed the sweep defeating Rohan Johnson 21/19, 21/18 and 21/17.

Mahfood was happy for the win but said that his team had work to do to stay fit and defend their title. 

“It’s been great. A lot of fun. The quality of the squash has been fantastic. I’m happy that our team won the first two matches. Andrew played great. My opponent played great. It was all close and it could have gone either way,” said Mahfood. “So we definitely have to go back to the drawing board and put in some more training to see how we can win easier, but those were two tough matches which could have gone to the opponent.”

Meanwhile, Racketeers defeated newcomers Campionites 3-0 also winning all their matches in straight sets. Lauren McClure defeated Lauren Delisser 21/12, 21/13 and 21/13 and Matthew Levy got the better of Noah Levy 21/18, 21/19 and 23/20. Adam Lee dispatched Isabelle Robinson 21/17, 21/18, 21/19.

Saints who had a good run in the league last year, defeated Squashbucklers 2-1 on the back of wins by Jerry Bell and Leigh Dwyer who won in straight sets against Alexis Robinson and Robert Chin respectively. Squashbucklers’ Jamieson Daley won his match in straight sets against Saints’ Daren Latchman with scores of 21/11, 21/9, 21/17.

Last year’s runner-up, Fantastic Warriors, also started on a winning note, defeating Squash Scholars 2/1 as captain Stewart Maxwell lost his match in a gruelling five-setter against Kwame Emmanuel (20/21, 21/6, 21/12, 19/21 and 21/9. But Stephen Dear 21/18, 22/23, 21/15, 21/17 over John Lindo and Yasir Anwar over Tamara Thompson 21/16/21/18, 21/16 secured victory for Fantastic Warriors.

The next set of matches will get underway on Thursday, February 27 at the Liguanea Club starting at 6:00 pm.