AMIDST brutally hot sunshine and cooling showers which delayed some matches, the 2010 Barbados Tennis Association Esso/Island Heritage National Championships got underway last weekend at the National Tennis Centre.
Both of the top seeds in the Under-18 division have advanced to the next round.
Girls’ No. 1 Alyssa Fuentes rolled over out-of-sorts Samiya Dottin 6-0, 6-0.
Dottin seemed to lose focus after missing what should have been an easy cross-court winner from which she never recovered early in the first set. She played into Fuentes’ hands, putting the ball within easy reach instead of forcing the top seed to move.
When Fuentes was put under pressure and forced to run, she often lost the point, but Dottin was unable to do so consistently.
No. 3 seed Ashley Frost defeated Michaela Batson 6-3, 6-2, and Joelle Hall got an easy match-up when Jeniece Ayeun retired, trailing 3-2.
In the boys’ section, which has seen a marked decline in numbers, top seed Michael Jordan advanced to the semi-finals with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Luke Humphrey.
Traditionally, this part of the tournament is eagerly anticipated before the adults begin, but with only Christian Maxwell, Zachary Jones and Dylan Hall joining Jordan and Humphrey, it could be over in a flash, while there are enough girls to have a draw instead of the round-robin format.
The younger ones were also in action. In the boys’ Under-12 division, Yannick Polanen beat Samuel Manning 8-6 in the quarter-finals, while in the earlier rounds, Joshua Mayers beat Andrew Gill 8-2, Colby Cutting fought off a determined Asher Wiltshire 8-4, and Harry Prow rolled over Christian Armstrong 8-1.
