By Kiev Chesney
Guyanese national female players Michelle John and Trenace Lowe breezed through the preliminary rounds of the 13th annual Caribbean Junior, Cadet Championships to book their semifinal spots in the girls’ under-18 singles Sunday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The GT girls looked in top form as they raced through the preliminary round of the girls’ U-18 singles virtually unchallenged.
In the semifinal match-ups, Lowe and John are scheduled to play Trinidad’s number one and number two seeds Avernelle Abraham and Ashley Quashie respectively.
John and Lowe have the psychological advantage on their side after they combined to defeat this pair in the ladies’ doubles, then took turns at beating them when they met during the team event.
In the boys’ U-18 category, Guyana’s Darwin Walcott and Warren Hackshaw failed to make the final four as Jamaican Don Walker-Petinaud and Trinidadian Kenwin Small respectively, orchestrated their elimination in the quarterfinals of the competition.
Hackshaw’s chances of upsetting the number one seed were very slim and Small did not hesitate to inflict a three-straight beating (11-9, 11-6, 11-5) on his lesser-ranked opponent.
Walcott, however, was stunned when Petinaud, one of the lower-ranked players on the Jamaican U-18 squad, upset him in a gripping five-game encounter.
Although Walcott seemed bewildered by Petinaud’s early two-game advantage, he battled back to level the match at two games apiece.
Petinaud, however, continued to flourish in the fifth and final game and with words of inspiration from coach Robert Hyatt, every one of his irretrievable forehand loops seemed to land on the table.
After closing Walcott out, 13-11, 11-9, 10-11, 6-11, 11-7, Petinaud secured a spot in the semifinals where he was scheduled to meet fellow Jamaican Michael Cai last night.
Cai reached the semifinals after overcoming Trinidadian Kyle Borneo 3-2 in the quarters.
In the girls’ U-15 quarterfinals number one seed Yvonne Foster defeated a tearful Chelsea Edghill in straight games (11-5, 11-9, 11-5 ), while Trinidadian Krystal Taylor edged Jamaican Ashli Alexander out of the semifinal spot 3-2.
Ambrose Thomas was responsible for the elimination of the other Jamaican Tracy Ann Datterdeen in the quarterfinals while Caterine Spicer of Trinidad defeated Christine Dania, the last player in the singles round for Curacao.
Guyanese Nigel Byran advanced to the semifinals with a comfortable win against Matthew Pillai (11-2, 11-9, 11-5) while Khadeem Moore got past Samuel Fraser 11-1, 11-7 and 11-5 in the boys’ Under-15 quarter-final yesterday.
After winning the first two games in his 11-9, 11-8, Denzil Hopkinson was beaten three straight by Meshach Pillai of T&T.
But Stephan Patior also advanced to the semifinals after upsetting Jamaican Jermaine James 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 4-11 and 11-9.
