Barbados’ number two player Anthony “Ears” Mitchell played superbly to capture the second Last Man Standing road tennis competition at The Ranch to pocket the first prize of $800 on Sunday.
Mitchell defeated last year’s losing finalist Curtis Jones in the shotgun single set tournament 21-19, in a very entertaining match. Mitchell reached the finals by eliminating the defending champion and island’s number one, Julian “Michael Jackson” White 21-19, in a game which was locked from point one up to the 18th point as no player managed a two-point advantage.
While the fans were disappointed at White’s loss which removed any hopes of a rematch with Mark “Venom” Griffith, such concerns were made meaningless after Jones then destroyed Griffith 21-12.
The final eight encounters saw Jones stopping Chesterfield “Boy-Boy” Brewster 21-17, Mitchell beating White, Griffith defeating youngster Dario Hinds 21-16, and Kerry “TC” Francis crushing Stig Merrit 21-9.
Playing at the indoor Ranch on the Spring Garden Highway proved the right setting as shots were fired repeatedly from both ends of the court with the players battling to take the single sets which did not create room for error.
In the finals, Mitchell played a moving game to reach 10-7 at the switch. However, Jones then upped his play to seize the advantage 15-13. Mitchell regained the edge 17-15 which he converted to 20-17 but he dropped two points before getting home 21-19.
Jones had to settle for $400 while White and Griffith earned $100 each. The action will shift to Belfield on Sunday when the S&J Health Bakery shotgun tournament serves off under the title, Punches in Bunches. (KB)
