GUYANA’S professional tennis player Sachia Vickery had to settle for fourth
place on Saturday after being forced to retire due to an injury in her women’s
singles bronze medal contest in Santa Fe, Argentina.
Vickery, playing in the first contest of the day, struggled as the contest
progressed before finally retiring with the score 6-2 in the first set; her
opponent, Argentina’s Luciana Moyano, was given the win 6-2, 2-0.
Vickery, who was representing Guyana for the first time, was also beaten on
Friday by Dana Guzman of Peru in the semifinals 6-0 and 6-1 to miss a
place in the finals.
Earlier in the competition, she showed her quality to dismiss Paraguay’s
Leyla Britez in the second round before edging Chile’s Antonia Vergara in the
Women’s singles quarter- finals.
The USA-born Guyanese, who had a career-best ranking of 73 in the world,
will rue a missed opportunity to finish the competition with a medal.
She is the nation’s highest-ranked player and the lone Guyanese on the
international circuit with a ranking in the 300s after switching allegiance in
this month.
Vickery is ultimately hunting for a place at the 2028 Summer Olympics set to
be hosted in Los Angeles, USA.