ANTHONY Downes once again proved that he is Guyana’s best male tennis player by defeating Daniel Lopes in straight sets when the curtain came down on the Assuria Open Singles Classic 2015 at Harry Panday’s tennis courts. The 23-year-old Downes defeated his 18-year-old counterpart (Lopes) in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to win the title.
According to a release, in the first set Lopes battled with shakily but eventually built enough resilience to deal with Downes’ powerful ground strokes and to earn himself a break of service in the fourth game.
However, Downes was able to easily sustain the pressure by making fewer errors and quickly securing the set at 6-1 even though Lopes had several opportunities to capitalise on break points. In the second set, both players held serve at 1-1 and it seemed that Lopes was about to mount a better challenge for Downes but the match progressed under Downes’ terms and conditions as he became more aggressive and once again quickly closed out the set at 6-1.
In the end Downes had five double faults, 16 unforced errors, four winners and won both of his net points. Lopes racked up eight double faults, 37 unforced errors (23 of which were on his forehand), three winners and won three net points.
At the closing ceremony, tournament chair Charles Adams Jr reported that the tournament concluded successfully with 42 entrants and 54 matches in five categories namely Men’s Open, Ladies’ Open, Men’s Over-35, Men’s Over-45 and Novice Medley at three venues – the National Racquet Centre, Le Resouvenir Tennis Club and Panday’s residence.
“Being the first major tournament of the year, Assuria Open has set the bar for the upcoming tournaments,” Adams said, referring to several enduring and hard-fought matches. He thanked everyone for all their hard work, time and commitment towards making it a successful tournament.
President of the Guyana Tennis Association (GTA) Grace McCalman thanked Assuria Insurance Management for supporting the GTA in rebranding the tournament for Open participation. It was especially beneficial to the juniors who are not generally exposed to playing the various styles of the adult players.
She expressed great confidence in this type of tournament evolving into something big enough to attract foreign players.
She was also especially pleased with the general level of tennis played by the veterans, citing Godfrey Lowden’s double championship against Carlos Adams and Rudy Grant’s 2hr 30min and 3hr 20min matches. She thanked the Tournament Coordinators Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan and Nicholas Glasgow for successfully coordinating matches at the three locations; Harry Panday and Sam Barakat for providing lighted facilities.
But she pleaded for more volunteers to come forth to help in future tournaments. “There is no magic in running a successful tournament,” she said, adding, “It’s all hard work and there is always a need for linespersons and umpires.”
Assuria Operations Manager Clyde Muntslag reported that the company was elated to see the enthusiasm of the young players as he reminded the GTA that Assuria Insurance made a deliberate decision in 2013 to support tennis in Guyana as a component of their corporate responsibility.
This is the third year of the tournament and the company will uphold its commitment to sponsor annually as long as it continues to see the GTA progress in the sport locally. He thanked the GTA for a great tournament and hopes to see everyone at the tournament next year.
Winners List:
Men’s Open winner: Anthony Downes, runner-up Daniel Lopes.
Ladies’ Open winner: Nicola Ramdyhan, runner-up Shelly Daly.
Men’s Over-35 winner: Godfrey Lowden, runner-up Carlos Adams.
Men’s Over 45: winner: Godfrey Lowden, runner-up Carlos Adams.
Novice Medley winner: Daniel Razick, runner-up Charles Adams.