Who will take the Men’s and Ladies singles titles of the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association (GLTA)/ Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Open Tournament will be decided from 5:30pm this evening at the GBTI Recreational Facility in Bel Air.
The two encounters will feature Nicola Ramdyhan and Shawna Gentle competing for the ladies singles title while in the men’s title match, Anthony Downes will face Phillip Squires for the third time.
On Wednesday, in the first men’s semifinals, former men’s champion Squires – who was off the tennis scene for two years – spared no effort to remind spectators that he is the one to watch when he ousted old rival Leyland Leacock in straight sets in their highly tactical game. He battled under the moonlight to protect his half of the semis-draw. Squires, who has a playing style similar to Leacock, broke early for a 2-0 lead which extended to a 4-1 lead. Leacock finally broke back at 2-4 and held at 3-4. But Squires held his last two serves to secure the set and win 6-3.
Squires quickly set himself up 5-1 in the second set to serve for the match. He had 3 match points but became complacent and Leacock seized the opportunity to break and hold serve to go up 3-5. But Squires did not waste his fourth match point and won the match 6-3 6-3.
Meanwhile, Anthony Downes made light work of Jason Glasgow winning at 6-0, 6-0 to set up his match with Daniel Lopes on his way to meet Squires for the third time in a highly anticipated men’s finals.
In the Ladies Doubles Finals, National Coach Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan and her daughter Nicola Ramdyhan defeated the young sisters Shawna and Afruica Gentle 7-5 6-3 in a tough battle. The mother/daughter pair took advantage of what could be deemed sibling rivalry on the opposite side of the court even though the sisters showed great potential as they gained excellent points.
