Andre Erksine on Saturday eliminated Mario Niamatali from the men’s singles category of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Open when the ongoing tennis tournament continued at the GBTI Recreational Centre, Bel Air.
Erskine drew first blood breaking Niamatalli’s serve to set the pace for the match.
Niamatalli managed to keep Erskine at bay as the two traded points before Erskine scraped home 7 – 5 in the first set.
Erskine assiduously sought for the straight sets win but continually found it challenging to gain momentum over Niamatalli.
Erskine’s aggressive play in the second set saw him going ahead 5-3 and 40-0 with three match points before Niamatalli fought back to break Erskine’s serve to 4-5.
Erskine again went ahead and secured another three match points as Niamatalli went down 0-40.He was again unable to close out and the match was tied up at 5-5 and eventually went to a tie-break which Niamatalli secured 7-2 to force the deciding set.
A similiar trend followed in the final set where Erskine established a 5-2 lead but despite playing some good shots, his cautious play when ahead allowed Niamatalli to save another three match points at 5-2 40-0 before Niamatalli’s own serve faltered and he lost the set 6-3.
In the opening match of the ladies doubles junior players Krystal Sukra and Nicola Ramdyhan took down former ladies’ singles champion Carol Humphrey and her partner Celeste Bradford in straight sets 6 -1, 6 – 3.
Thi Fernandes and current ladies’ singles champion Aruna Ramrattan are the only other entrants in the ladies’ doubles category which will be played in a round robin format.
Humphrey was a bit more fortunate in the mixed doubles competition as herself and Godfrey Lowden received a walk over while Nicholas Glasgow and Grace McCalman defeated Alfred Mentore and Onage Ghanie 6-1 6-2.
In the juniors’ category Afruica Gentle, Nicola Ramdyhan and Benedict Sukra all scored straight sets wins.
Gentle defeated Aneesa Grandison 6-2 6-0 in the girls’ junior singles, Ramdyhan claimed the second girls’ singles win after overcoming Delecia George 6-0 6-0 while Sukra captured the first boys’ singles win by defeating Khalid Gobin 6-1 6-1.
Matches continued yesterday and are expected to continue later this evening.
Full results for all matches played on Saturday are as follows:
Men’s Singles Andre Erskine def Mario Niamatali 7-5 6-7 (7-2) 6-3
Ladies Doubles Krystal Sukra/Nicola Ramdhyan def Carol Humphrey/Celeste Bradford 6-1 6-3
Men’s 45 Singles Steve David-Longe def Rawle Sue Ho 6-3 6-0
Mixed Doubles Godfrey Lowden/Carol Humphrey def George/George by W/O
Men’s Doubles Ronald Murray/Rawle Sue-Ho def Viraj Judgeo/Kris Judgeo by W/O
Mixed Doubles Nicholas Glasgow/Grace McCalman def Alfred Mentore/Onage Ghanie 6-1 6-2
Juniors
Girls 18 Singles Afruica Gentle def Aneesa Grandison 6-2 6-0
Girls 18 Singles Nicola Ramdyhan def Delecia George 6-0 6-0
Boy’s 18 Singles Benedict Sukra def Khalid Gobin 6-1 6-1
Novices Category
Celeste Bradford def Ryan Cumberbatch 6- 4
Seweon Mc Garrell def Gavin Ramsoondar 6-2
Vini Aaron def Onage Ghani 6-1
Aubrey Dewart def Iqbal Mohamed 6-1
Anthony Sookram def Suzanna Wharton 6-0
Victor Demchenko def Rohandev Persaud 6-0
Kishon Gorakh def Afraz Mohamed by W/O
