Gentle upholds number one ranking

Number one seed Shawna Gentle defeated Krystal Sukra 1 – 6, 6 – 1, 7 – 5  in the final of the junior girls singles on Tuesday night when the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Tennis Tournament reconvened at the GBTI Sports Club, Bel Air Park.

Daniel Lopes is poised to unleash a volley on this forehand return from Gilbert Barckoy. At left is Leyland Leacock while Lopes’ partner Gavin Lewis is not in this (Orlando Charles photo).

It was the second finals defeat for Sukra after she and   Nicola Ramdhyan lost the ladies doubles final to Carol Humphrey and Thi Fernandes Sunday night.

Sukra, though, is still in with a chance for a title win as she opposes Humphrey in the women’s singles final.

Sukra’s aggressive ground strokes saw her calmly capturing the  first set from Gentle but it was downhill from there  for Sukra.

An overjoyed Gentle said that it was a good match and while she had expected a challenge from Sukra, she was ecstatic that her best proved enough to overcome her adversary.

“It was a good match! It’s never easy against Krystal so I never expected it to be easy, but I played my best and I’m glad that I came out successful,” Gentle said

Gentle will also contest the mixed doubles final with Jeremy Miller.

In the men’s Open doubles, Leyland Leacock and Gilbert Barckoy reached  the final after they defeated  Gavin Lewis and Daniel Lopes 6 – 0 , 6 – 4.

They will play Jason Andrews and Miller in the final.

Matches continued last night with the boys singles final where a heated match was expected between number one seed Lewis and Lopes while Miller was down to face Leacock in the first of the men’s singles semi-finals.