Lopes and Ramrattan capture Junior Mixed Doubles
IMPRESSIVE teamwork from the pair of Daniel Lopes and Aruna Ramrattan made light work of the Seanden David-Longe/Shawna Gentle combination to cart off the Junior Mixed Doubles crown in the 11th Annual Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GTA) organized Nigel’s Supermarket sponsored Junior Summer Tennis Classic yesterday. In the same tournament, International Tennis Federation (ITF) Girls 14’s champion Aretta Dey battled hard to overcome a strong challenge from Shawna’s 10 year old sister Afruica Gentle, to cart off the 14’s title.

Lopes and Ramrattan met their opponents at the recently resurfaced Non Pariel Court in Woolford Avenue and hardly broke a sweat on their way to taking the first set 6-2.

Despite a valiant effort from Shawna Gentle with little or at times no help from David-Longe who was suffering from upset stomach, the eventual winners carted off the match in straight sets with a 7-5 victory.

Despite being down, the pair of Shawna Gentle and David-Longe fought tooth and nail with their opponents, thanks to the efforts of Shawna Gentle who carried her team on her fragile shoulders with her rallies and at times power serves.

But in a two man team sport, you need help from your partner and unfortunately for Shawna Gentle none was coming from David-Longe who seemed happier during the breaks in the stands than when on court.

The victorious pair took advantage of David-Longe’s pathetical display even as Shawna Gentle showed signs of tiring in the sweltering heat, and wrapped up the match even though they were forced to endure a lengthy rally that lasted for 12 exchanges.

On the previous day’s play,  she withstood a valiant effort from Afruica Gentle who forced the match to a deciding set after coming from a set down when she lost the first one 4-2 to take the second 3-4, before she came out on tops with a 7-5 third set victory.

Dey had earlier defeated Anneasa Grandison in straight sets with the score reading 4-1, 5-3 while Afruica Gentle also defeated Grandison 4-2 0-4 10-8 (tie-break) in the round robin stages.

In the Boy’s 14’s Craig Campbell emerged as the winner after he overcame Desmond Caesar 4-1 4-2 in the final.

Campbell had earlier booked himself a spot in the final after winning all his round- robin matches whilst Caesar upset top seed Khalid Gobin 4-1 5-3 and also defeated D Mohabeer 4-2 1-4 10-8 ( tie-break) in a hard fought battle at the Non Pariel courts.

In the Boys and Girls 18’s action, top players Gavin Lewis, Daniel Lopes, Krystal Sukra and Shawna Gentle won all their matches to set up their finals showdown in the two categories which was played at the Pegasus Courts.

Surprisingly, there was an easy win for Sukra over Ramrattan who won last year’s ladies Open Champion 6-0 6-3 whilst Gavin Lewis had a similar score line against Benedict Sukra.

The full result for the final two days reads:
Girls 14’s: Aretta Dey defeated Afruica Gentle 4-2, 3-4, 7-5  and A Grandison 4-1, 5-3 while
Afruica Gentle defeated Grandison 4-2, 0-4, 10-8(tie-break) to take the runner-up position.

Boys 14’s: Desmond Caesar defeated top seed Khalid Gobin 4-1, 5-3 and D Mohabeer 4-2 1-4 10-8(tie-break) while Craig Campbell defeated Ryan Deokie 4-0, 4-0.

Boy’s 18’s: Neochandra Persaud defeated Craig Campbell 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3, Dominic Frazer defeated Delroy Austin 6-4 2-6 6-2, Khalid Gobin defeated Alex Brassington 6-2 6-3, Judah Stepheney defeated Linden Ross 6-0, 6-0, Gavin Lewis defeated Benedict Sukra 6-3 6-0 and David-Longe defeated Judah Stepheney 7-5 6-1

Girls 18’s:  Krystal Sukra defeated Ramrattan 6-0 6-3 while Dey defeated Stephanie Brassington 6-2, 6-2. (Calvin Roberts)