AFRUICA Gentle capitalised on her chance to cop the Bakewell Junior Open Girls U-18 title when she defeated Aretta Dey in three sets 4-6, 6-1, (10-5) last Sunday at the President’s College tennis court facility. The match featured long rallies initially, much to the advantage of Dey, whose were consistent and effective despite her long absence from training and competition.
In the first set, the girls maintained a tie up to 4-4 when Dey broke Gentle and held serve to close out the set. Having lost the first set, Gentle showed no mercy and easily raced to win the second set dropping only one game.
In the deciding super tie-break Gentle ,being the more experienced, was able to successfully counter Dey’s aggression and at 5-5 raced away to 10 points to win the set and title.
In the Girls U-12, the promising Sarah Klautky made light work of newcomer Nathalie Ramdyhan in straight sets 4-1, 4-0 to cop the title.
The Boys Under-14 semis featured the top four seeds with Mark McDonald defeating Keenan Persaud 2-4, 5-3, (10-6) and Heimraj Resaul defeating top seed Jordan Beaton in straight sets 5-3, 5-4 (7-5).
McDonald was scheduled to play Resaul in the Boys U-14 final at the GBTI tennis courts last evening. Meanwhile today starting at 11:00hrs, Joshua Kalekyezi will play Viraj Sharma in the Boys U-12 final. Afruica Gentle will play Shivani Persaud in the Girls U-14 final and McDonald will clash with Resaul again in the Boys U-18 final.
Closing ceremony for the tournament will take place at 16:30hrs.