There was mixed fortunes for the island’s players on the opening day of the Chubb Bermuda Open Squash Championships yesterday.

Micah Franklin went down to Josue Enrique, of Guatemala 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 while Emma Keane and Hailey Moss won their matches against Bermudian opponents.

Keane beat Shannon Mann 11-5, 11-2, 11-4 while Moss defeated compatriot Juliette Ferrari-McComb, in the only match to go five games, winning 11-3, 8-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-4.

Mann was a late replacement after several after some changes were made to the opening round because of withdrawals due to Covid.

Ferrari-McComb ended up playing Moss who was scheduled to meet Arisha Khan, of USA, while Eilidh Franklin, of Cayman Islands, Ferrari-McComb’s original opponent, played Isabella White, of Bermuda, winning 12-10, 11-5, 11-3.

Of the eleven matches, ten local players were involved with only Keane and Moss winning. Top men’s player, Noah Browne, went down 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 to Seif Shenaway, of Egypt.

Keane, who lives in England, was delighted to advance to the second round as she gets set to carry the Bermuda flag against a seeded player.

“Play the ball and not the person is the best piece of advice that I’ve ever been given and I try to hold on to that,” she said.

“We’re very lucky to have so many Bermudians playing tonight and that has drawn a great crowd, seeing how much interest there still is in squash.

“We’re very lucky to have a phenomenal group of competitors here on both the men’s and women’s side from all over the world.”

She added: “I’m just going to treat every match as a learning experience, to execute as much of the game plan as I can and also to learn from all the other women here.

“They have such incredible talent so it’s a really great opportunity that I’m grateful for.

“It was unfortunate to have two Bermudians pitted against each other in the first round due to a lot of Covid dropouts but, on the plus side, we’ve got so many Bermuda flags flying tonight and that is such a positive to take away.”

Mann jumped at the opportunity to enter the draw, even though she had little time to prepare for such a big tournament.

“Players withdrew so I just got asked to fill a space which I was happy to do,” she said.

“I play for fun, it was really fun and Emma was great. It’s nice to have this tournament here.

“I look forward to watching Emma play in the tournament and hopefully she has a good one.”

Franklin was urged on by a vocal crowd but unfortunately for him, his younger opponent proved too strong.

“The crowd is the best thing about Bermuda squash,” he said of the support the players received.

“I’ve been everywhere around the world, these players come here and talk about it for years, how good the atmosphere is here in Bermuda.

“The level of support that I get means so much to me.

“I gave it everything I could but lost to a better player.

“I wish I could have pushed him a little bit further, but he is getting great results these days and even at my best don’t think I would have beaten him.”