Shan Mohammed congratultes Paul Oliver after his 6-2, 6-4 defeat in the Nagico Open Tennis Championship. Oliver will be contesting Saturday's Plate Final at the Tortola Sports Club.

Alberto Ovalles in action during the earlier rounds of the Championship which concludes on Saturday at the Tortola Sports Club.

Paul Oliver has had a busy week in the Championships, pictured here playing in the Mixed Doubles with Mother, Janet, as his Partner.

The other semi-final will see Percy Rhoden up against Mark Macdonald and for a place in Saturday’s Final.

Anselm overcame a resilient Rupert Dean in the round of 16 to advance. Dean himself coming through a tough battle against Peter Sorrentino before falling victim to “Mr. Tennis”.

Leanaming also had some scares before reaching the last four, most notably a tense game of cat and mouse with the upcoming Paul Oliver, who also played in the mixed doubles with his mother Janet.

In the lower half of the draw, Macdonald had a fairly comfortable ride with wins over Sherwin Modoc and Lenroy Quashie. He will, however, have to overcome Rhoden if there is to be a repeat of the Nagico 2010 Final.

Rhoden had an epic battle with Peter Poole to progress after seeing off Keith Thomas in the second round.

In the Women’s Final, Rachel Macdonald is awaiting either Poole or Burns. Macdonald played her semi final a day earlier and will have the fresher legs after a 9-5 win over Belinda Boyd. The semi was the first time Macdonald had dropped games in her relentless quest for the Championship. Boyd was no push over and the extra work out will stand Macdonald in good stead as she prepares for the Poole/Burns winner.

Poole too has had an easy ride so far, receiving a Bye in the first round and then handing out a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Claire Santillan. Burns on the other hand scrapped through 9-8 against Joanna Dunne and following a nail biter first set against Tanya Dean ran out a 7-6, 6-2 winner in her quarter final.

Poole has a busy Friday night in store as she is also playing with Leanaming in the mixed semi finals. The pair faces Carol and Patrick Mitchell for a place in the final and the possibility of a mouth watering match against Anselm and Linda Lue. Standing in the way are Rupert and Tanya Dean, who have already knocked out the Salapares, who were first round winners against Rhoden and Patti Romney.

In the Men’s plate Final, the young Oliver is awaiting the outcome of the quarter final tie between Keith Thomas and Winston Findlay and then the winner of that match will play Michael Burns before knowing who he has to beat to lift the Trophy. Oliver had an impressive list of scalps on his route to Saturday’s final including that of Shan Mohammed, who is the Managing Director of Sponsors, Nagico. Mohammed going down 6-2, 6-4 after rallying from 3-1 down in the second set to tie it at 4-4 before Oliver broke Mohammed’s serve to make it 5-4 and then served out the match with a string of long rallies from the baseline.

The second-seeded American rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second set to tie the match. But the 388th-ranked Oliver jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the decider and kept his composure to earn the biggest victory of his young career.

Saturday’s Finals will begin at 9 a.m. with Children’s Fun Day which is hoped to attract as many of the Territory’s youngsters as possible and introduce them to the game of Tennis. The Club has planned a BBQ, a Bouncy Castle and the Launch of a 1000 Tennis Balls.