The highly-anticipated boys’ U-18 lawn tennis final of the fifth annual Nigel’s Supermarket Junior Classic tournament saw Anthony Downes overcoming a spirited fight from Jonathan Antczak to take the crown.
Antczak seemed to be lead footed for most of the match not withstanding that he had a high first serve percentage.
But Downes, the more powerful and experienced of the two, took advantage of Antczak’s weak returns to pummel him taking both sets 6-1, 6-1.
The final scores though, did not paint a good picture of the match as during some of the rallies Antczak showed the mettle he was made of forcing the composed Downes to show traits of 1980’s star and former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe.
Meanwhile, national coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan was full of praise for the sponsors Nigel’s Supermarket.
She stated that the level of tennis had improved from last year with some 50 of the 68 competitors completing the tournament.
Daly Ramydhan said she was also happy about the contingent of Berbicians who took part in the two-week clinic and tournament as some eight participants took to the courts with at least one of them participating in every division. She added that this was excellent as there is only one court available in New Amsterdam and said coach Carol Humphrey should be praised for doing an excellent job.
Nigel’s Supermarket representative, national table tennis player Christopher Franklyn said that from the matches he saw it was a successful and excellent tournament adding that kudos should go to the tournament coordinator.
The results of the finals which were run in eight divisions are:
Medley 10-years-and-under Jevon Henry beat Kristie Lopes 15-5.
Medley 12-years-and-under Khalif Gobin beat Davendra Singh 16-14.
Girls’ 12-years-and-under Nicola Ramdyhan beat Afruca Gentle 6-2.
Boys’ 12-year-and-under Gavin Lewis beat Daniel Lopes 6-2, 6-4.
Girls’ 14-years-and-under Shawna Gentle beat Aruna Ramrattan 6-2, 6-3.
Boys’ 14-year-and-under Seanden David-Longe beat Gavin Lewis 7-6 (11-9), 6-4.
Mixed doubles Shawna Gentle & Daniel Lopes beat Gavin Lewis and Aruna Ramrattan 9-8 (7-1 tie-break).
Boys’ under-18 Downes beat Antczak 6-1, 6-1.
