Barbadian Lucas Davis is the only indigenous player to emerge with a victory from the main draw of the Barbados International Tennis Federation (ITF) J30 Bridgetown tournament yesterday.
In today’s round of 16 clash he will need to get past Canada’s Xzavier Hastick, whom he is quite familiar with, as Hastick would have spent a considerable number of years competing in Barbados. If Davis can defeat Hastick, a spot in the quarter-finals awaits him. Davis defeated Taylor Yarnell of the USA 6-2, 7-5, whilst Hastick beat Sonny Dickson from Great Britain 6-3, 6-4.
Other Barbadian hopefuls faced much different outcomes in their respective encounters. Dimitri Kirton, fresh from his U-14 International singles title win last week, was overcome by Noah Richer of the USA, losing 6-1, 6-2. Thomas O’Neil, based in Barbados, endured a tough battle, but ultimately succumbed to Eaden-Zack Harron 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-1.
Neil King and Aidan Clarke also showed great determination but were unable to secure wins in their respective matches. King was defeated by Brazilian Pedro Antonio Valpererio 6-3, 7-5, and after a fairly positive first set, Clarke exited at the hands of Loic Moreau of Martinique in a match that ended 7-5, 6-1. Jayden Yu of the United States also won over Barbados’ Cristian Blunte 6-2, 6-1.
On the women’s side, despite strong efforts, Shonte Sargeant, Nadja Gooding, and Micah Austin were all defeated.
Sargeant went down to Natasha Jerkunica of the USA 6-4, 6-2, while Gooding was defeated by Livia Pett of the United States 6-3, 6-2. Austin’s fate was sealed by Adelaide Games of the United States after she was comprehensively dismissed 6-0, 6-0 and Janae Layne suffered the same outcome at the hands of Elise Laing of Canada also enjoyed the most comfortable of victories when she defeated Barbados’ 6-0, 6-0.
