BRTO 2025 Male Finals - Mark Griffith Vs Shakeem Nurse

Defending men's champion Mark ‘Venom’ Griffith took 41 minutes to defeat 17-year old Jael Greaves in straight sets, inclusive of a six minute medical break for treatment for cramp, experienced by the teenager.

At the end of the encounter the scoreboard showed that Griffith had prevailed 21-15, 21-13, 21-11 as he reeled off some delightful shots. But so too did his opponent, Greaves who has been one of the few players in the BRTO 2025, to avoid a ‘sow’ in their match-ups against Griffith. Greaves did not look overawed at all by the occasion, even though he was playing in his first semi-finals of the BRTO, reeling off some superb shots as anti-dotes, to the venom inflicted by the defending men’s champion.

Greaves clearly is a champion in the making if he maintains his interest in tennis and his display was warmly applauded by the massive crowd on hand at Dover.

The final semi-finals match-up of the night saw a titanic struggle between two of the most attacking players in Barbados, losing 2023 men’s finalist Shakeem Nurse and Davien ‘Force Ripe’ Taylor.

The encounter didn’t disappoint, bringing fans to the edge of their seats with excitement and breathtaking shots as the pendulum swung first to Nurse and then back to Taylor, before swinging again in Nurse’s favour.

Nurse won the first two games 21-17, 21-19 before Taylor roared right back to win the next two at 21-19, 21-19 to set up the decisive 5th game and the opportunity to meet defending champion Mark ‘Venom’ Griffith and a chance at $20,000 big bucks, come Saturday night.

The decider went to the wire as fortunes ebbed and flowed, being tied up several times including at 18-18. When Nurse pulled ahead at 19-18 in a call disputed vehemently by Taylor, you could feel the tension in the air.

However, Nurse kept his composure and nerves to secure the victory at 21-18 in the 5th game, which came just after ten o’clock to advance to Saturday’s final. After an hour and eight minutes of enthralling tennis the scoreboard showed that Nurse had defeated Taylor 21-17, 21-19, 19-21, 19-21, 21-18, in an encounter that lived up to its billing as the match of the night.

It means the BRTO 2025 men’s final is a virtual rematch of 2023 when Griffith also came up against Nurse. The Wildey Gymnasium is the place to be on September 20^th to see who will be crowned the 2025 Male Barbados Road Tennis Open Champion.