Close, but no cigar. Bajans Kaipo Marshall and Romani Mayers barely missed out, falling just two points short of winning yesterday’s Boys’ under-18 doubles title of the inaugural Barbados Cup at the National Tennis Centre.
Holding a late 8-6 advantage in the deciding super tiebreaker, the hometown boys dropped the last four points of the match in a gut-wrenching 6-4, 1-6, [8-10] defeat to second seeds Frederic Fibleuil and Jean Philippe Murray on Court 3.
It was the heart-breaking finish to a title game the Bajans appeared to have wrapped up after Marshall came up with a huge forehand winner for 8-6.
But Fibleuil came up just as big, setting up a similarly massive overhead before Murray tied the scores on a reflex backhand volley. Mayers couldn’t keep down a subsequent reflex volley at the net and then Marshall shanked a routine forehand wide on match point to hand the visitors the match.
The result was a particularly tough one to swallow, particularly for a 15-year-old Marshall, who was just one month removed from winning the men’s open national title at the same venue.
He looked well on course for another crown too, as he and Mayers broke Fibleuil for an early 2-1 lead in the first set under great conditions.
However, they handed the break right back after Mayers fell behind 0-40 on his serve and then dumped an overhead in the net.
And they got to Fibleuil again, only for Mayers to lose serve once more on a very dubious let call that cost the Bajans a 5-3 lead.
But Mayers was easily broken thereafter on a series of big Marshall forehands before the unlikely national champ duly served out the first set.
It all went downhill from there, though, as the tourists jumped all over Marshall and Mayers for a fast 4-0 lead by breaking both Bajans.
They initially got back one of those breaks by taking Mayers’ serve to get on the board, but Marshall dumped a forehand in the net on break point to restore their two-break advantage.
Fibleuil went on to close out the second set by peppering the Bajans at the net with huge swinging volleys and an even bigger forehand winner on set point.
The sides traded points back and forth for 6-6 in the super tiebreaker before the visitors blinked first when Fibleuil sent a forehand long.
Marshall consolidated with a massive forehand winner to give the hometown boys what seemed a decisive 8-6 lead.
Earlier, top-seeded American Jennifer Gadalov cruised to the girls’ singles crown by beating No. 2 Sydney Clarke of Bahamas in a rather routine 6-0, 6-1 result in the final. The two then paired up later in the day to outlast third seeds Anna Dovgopolyi and Khyanna Sing 6-4, 7-6(3) in the doubles title match.
Boys’ No.1 Santiago Galan of Colombia justified his seeding by taking out American Tom Leblanc Claverie 6-4, 7-5 in the final on stadium court. (JM)