MARK McDonald and Shivani Persaud were crowned winners of the Under-18 boys and girls age group categories of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) tennis tournament, which is ongoing at the Bank’s tennis facility, Bel Air Park.According to a release, McDonald made the final when he defeated Hemraj Resaul, 6-3, 6-7(7-5), 10-7, while Jordan Beaton beat Keenan Persaud, 4-6, 6-1,
In the semifinals, Beaton looked solid in the opening set with a race to 2-0 but a confident McDonald made a comeback with his die-hard attitude. He played a more consistent level of tennis with the right amount of aggression to secure the title 6-4, 6-4.
Beaton had the higher 1st serve percentage but McDonald secured more winners and fewer errors which aided his win.
In the girls’ game, Kalysca Fraser beat Sarah Klautky while Shivani Persaud defeated Diana Bharrat to meet each other in the final.
Fraser and Persaud had an intense match that went to a super tiebreaker. Persaud and Fraser played a similar style of tennis. However Persaud had the edge over her opponent with more striking shots. She won 7-6(7-2), 4-6, 10-5.
Meanwhile, No.2 seed in the men’s division, Leyland Leacock, has progressed to the final of the Men’s singles after a skirmish through the bottom half of the draw. He defeated his fierce rival Benjettan Osborne 6-3, 6-2.
The opposition was greater in the first set but Leacock countered well to Osborne’s flat forehand strokes. Leacock’s biggest challenge came in his match against Philip Squires, who denied him a spot in the final of the Men’s Singles Open.
History seemed it would repeat itself when Squires comfortably took the first set 6-3. A determined Leacock cleaned up the errors and made a comeback to win the second set 6-4 and a 4-2 lead in the third set until he pulled a leg muscle.
He mustered the last of his fuel as he collapsed with a win at 6-3. His opponent in the final will be Anthony Downes who also had a slight scare in the semi-finals.
The defending champion Downes looked impenetrable in the first set when he made no hesitation to chalk up 6-0.
While up 3/0 in the 2nd set, Downes pulled a groin muscle which limited his mobility Lopes then dictated the pace of the game, extended the rallies and occasionally got to the net to put away the volleys. He took a substantial lead at 5-3 serving for the set when Downes used his experience to launch an insurgent and break his serve. He won the next three consecutive games and captured the set 7-5.
The title can go either to Downes or Leacock but it will come down to being physically prepared for a long match. Leacock would need to clean up the unforced errors but he is the best candidate to counter Downes’ power.