Lopes and Stephney put down USVI but lose to Aruba

Following their Wednesday  2 – 1 win against the US Virgin Islands, Guyana’s boys under-14 team of Daniel Lopes and Judah Stephney yesterday lost 3 – 0 to Aruba in the North/Central America & Caribbean Pre-Qualifying (WJT) when the fourth day of  competition continued in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

According to the International Tennis Federation website, playing out of the boys under-14 Group B, which included the US Virgin Islands and Cuba, Lopes and Stephney finished second in their group to advance to yesterday’s group two playoffs, but fizzled out when they came up against the Aruban team of Jermaine Legrand and Anthony Harms and Kyle Frankel.

Against the US Virgin Islands, Guyana’s victory  was led by Lopes’ win in his singles match against Jordan Lawrence. Lopes disposed of Lawrence,  the top player from the US Virgin Islands, after a 6 – 3, 6 – 1 thrashing, in a one-hour battle. Lopes then teamed up with Stephney in the doubles match to defeat Julian Di Persio and his partner Luca Del Olmo 6 – 4, 6 – 3.

In his singles match against Del Olmo, Stephney put up a sturdy fight to take the first set 6 – 3, however despite continued resistance it was Del Olmo who conquered the next two sets 0 – 6, 4 – 6 to claim the victory in a match that lasted an hour and a half.

In the play offs, Lopes stumbled to a 6 – 4, 6 – 1 loss against Harms, while Stephney lost 6 – 0, 6 – 0 to Legrand. In the doubles the pair lost to Legrand and partner Frankel 6 – 0, 6 – 3.

Meanwhile on the girls side, Nicola Ramdyhan and Aretta Dey, despite having lost their matches  moved onto group two of the play offs where they will  play against Panama. Dey is scheduled to come up against Victoria Sherry, while Ramdyhan will face Maria Peralta.
Both matches were scheduled to be contested yesterday.