Micah Franklin and Rachel Barnes lived up to their top seedings after clinching the open men’s and women’s titles in the Digicel Bermuda National Squash Championships at Devonshire Courts last night.

The new champions won their respective best-of-five finals in contrasting fashion, Franklin sweeping training partner Noah Browne in three games to claim a second national title and Barnes rallying from a 2-0 deficit to edge out past winner Laura Robinson en route to her maiden national title at the second attempt.

Professional Franklin, ranked 189 in the world, got off to a shaky start but eventually gained control to take the opening game 11-5.

With his back against the wall, Browne put up a better fight in the second game, erasing an early deficit to draw level with Franklin at 6-6 and again at 7-7.

However, Franklin found another gear, winning the next four points to win the second game 11-7 and place himself firmly in the driver’s seat with a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

Franklin had things all his own way in the third game, jumping out to commanding 8-0 lead, which he never looked like relinquishing before an unforced error by Browne handed him a 11-3 victory and the 3-0 sweep on a platter.

“Noah and I are training partners and we have been to tournaments together and competed internationally together,” Franklin said. “So going into it, we knew each other’s game quite well.

“Lately I have been on the positive side of things when we play, so I kind of had that confidence going into the match. Three-nil was a fair result.

“Noah had a big push in the second when I had a bit of a mental lapse. But in the long run, it was a justified result.

“Playing in front of the home crowd is my favourite thing every year and I will always come back for this tournament — no matter how old.

“It’s the first time in over ten years two Bermudians have been in a final, which is a good thing. It’s also great to see some youth coming up as well, which I think is really positive.”

In a more evenly fought women’s final, Barnes was forced to come from behind before finally seeing off Robinson.

Very little separated the two players, who left nothing on the court in an absorbing match featuring some phenomenal strokeplay, which kept spectators on the edge of their seats.

Robinson took full advantage of a series of unforced errors by Barnes to win the opening two games 11-9, 12-10 and seemed well on course for the title after jumping out to a 7-1 lead in the third game.

Barnes, however, had other thoughts in mind and eventually found her stride, winning the next ten points to take the third game 11-7 and keep her hopes alive.

The two players gave very little away in the fourth game and at one stage were tied at 6-6 before Barnes pulled away to win 11-6 and even the match at 2-2.

Barnes gained early control in the fifth and deciding game at 5-2, But Robinson fought back bravely to shave the deficit to one point at 8-7 before her opponent reeled off three unanswered points to win the fifth game 11-7 and clinch the match.

“It feels great to be a national champion,” an elated Barnes said. “My plan was basically to tire her out, but I didn’t think that was going to happen after the first two games. It was awesome.

“I did have my doubts after she won the first two games. But I was kind of like ‘you are going to hate yourself if you don’t put everything into this right now and go for it’.

“It was really exciting because Laura is so tough to play. She has such a cool, intricate game, which is not conventional, but it really works for her.”