Top seed Boris Arias of Bolivia was sent crashing out at the quarter-final stage of the Barbados International Junior Tennis Tournament and three Brits are into today’s round which continues at the National Tennis Centre, Wildey.
Arias had little answer to unseeded Alexander Sendegeya of England. Sendegeya served up a gem of a game to oust the top seed 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals against compatriot Thomas Colautti, who in turn defeated Venezuelan Pedro Gonzalez 6-3, 6-2.
In the all-Brit match, No. 3 Thomas Hill came from a set down and needed a tie-breaker to get past Callum Poland-Smith 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Hill will meet No. 2 seed Jhonatan Gonzalez of Venezuela.
Spectators were anticipating a great match-up between Gonzalez and American Alejandro Perez, but it didn’t live up to expectation. Perez couldn’t get it together and was plagued by unforced errors.
As frustration built, he smashed the racket into the court and even berated the referee. His play improved slightly in the second set, but he still lost 6-0, 6-3.
Twin sisters Adel and Renata Arshavskaya of Russia are set to go head-to-head for a coveted spot in the finals. Renata, the No. 2 seed, defeated England’s Sophie Watts 6-0, 6-2 and Adel, the eighth seed, was leading No. 3 Marika Akkerman of Canada 6-2, 2-1 when the latter retired.
In the top half of the draw, No. 1 seed Kristina Chasovskikh of Russia beat American Breaunna Addison 6-1, 2-1 retired and No. 7 Katrine Steffenson of the United States upset fourth seed Carmen Cordoba of Mexico 6-0, 6-3.
Only two Barbadians advanced in the doubles which began late Tuesday evening. Cherise Slocombe and Kezia Koromo of Trinidad and Tobago beat Antiguans Chassidy King and Anika Williams 6-3, 2-6 (10-8).
Matthew Hutchinson and his Grenadian partner Yannik James defeated the Canadian duo of Kyle Macdonald and Ivan Markovic 6-2, 2-6 (10-7), but Ture Skinner and Bahamian Justin Higgs were beaten 6-4, 6-2.
At the Barbados Yacht Club, both Barbadians fell in the semi-finals of the Under-14 division.
Gavin Hutchinson was beaten 6-1, 7-5 by Trinidadian Nabeel Mohammed and Joelle Hall went down 6-0, 6-0 to No. 1 seed Ceijenia Cornelius of the United States.
Cornelius will play Julia Fisch, who beat D’Jeri Raymond of Antigua 7-5, 6-1, and in the all Trinidadian boys’ final, Mohammed takes on Gianluc Robinson, who beat Ethan Ammon 6-2, 6-2.
In the consolation finals, Barbadians Jaimie Lewis and Akayla Ellis-Agard are the last players standing. Lewis beat compatriot Symphony Griffith 3-5, 5-4 (5), 4-2 and Ellis-Agard beat Antiguan Anthika Jammula 4-0, 3-5, 4-0.
Barbadian Yannick Polanen defeated Grenada’s Brian Williams 4-0, 4-1 to reach the boys’ consolation final against Antigua’s Jevannie Ambrose, who beat Barbadian Gabriel Taylor 4-1, 0-4, 4-2.
