Kristen Johnson hopes his 3-0 victory in the final of the RUBiS Divisional Squash Tournament will propel his “friendly rivalry” with Patrick Foster to another level.

The Courthouse squash professional, 29, beat the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association director of squash 11-9, 12-10, 11-6 in the A Division final at the latter’s Devonshire headquarters on Saturday night.

The match was the climax of four days of matches featuring a tournament record 85 players across five adult divisions as well the Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ competitions.

Johnson believes that the key to his victory, which edged him in front in the pair’s head-to-head record, was a marked improvement in his mobility around the court.

“I think coaching every day and then actually playing three games of proper squash in the evening got a bit of mileage in the legs,” Johnson said. “So I felt as though I was moving properly.

“Pat was maybe a couple of per cent off his best and I actually started to be able to move Pat around the court.

“He’s one of the best movers around so you have to get him out of his comfort zone. As I was moving well, I was able to push him around the court in positions that he didn’t really want to be in.”

He added: “I think I just had a bit more gas in the tank than Pat did.”

The result was a reversal of Foster’s victory in the recent Courthouse v BSRA inter-club match and Johnson believes that the exciting see-saw nature of their matches bodes well for future battles.

“It’s fantastic, absolutely brilliant,” Johnson said. “It’s 2-1 in the rivalry — 1-1 at the Devonshire Club and 1-0 to me at my club — so hopefully over the next two years we might be able to build a nice friendly rivalry.

“At our age, we don’t really play professionally any more and still play to a good level but it’s all about bringing people together and enjoying the sport and having a bit of fun.”

He added: “I was just pleased with my short game. As soon as I took Pat in I felt as though I could push forward a bit.

“In the first game, our length wasn’t particularly good but after that I started to get my backhand length better.

“That pushed him back a bit and as soon as I could get him deeper on that backhand, I could take the ball in shorter easier.”

In the B Division final, Murray Brewer beat Richard Brewer 11-9, 14-12, 11-7, while Dylan Pratt overcame Denise Kyme 11-5, 11-9, 11-13, 11-4 in the C Division final.

Pratt had an excellent night as he also won the Junior Boys’ final, beating Taylor Carrick 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, and Abigail Brewer got the better of Ariana Lowther in the Junior Girls’ final.

“You have some of the juniors playing in the senior tournament and that’s fantastic,” said Johnson.

“We had people from my club and loads of people from the BSRA.

“That’s the first proper tournament I have played here and I really enjoyed it.”

Results, page 22