The pair of Anthony Downes and Jason Andrews yesterday won the first semi-finals of the Men’s Open Doubles to move into the division finals of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Open Tennis Tournament.
Starting as favourites to win the tournament, Downes and Andrews continue to show their quality as they easily defeated their younger counterparts Keenan Persaud and Jordan Beaton 6/0 6/0. They will play the winners of the Nicholas Fenty/Leyland Leacock and Nicholas Glasgow/Daniel Lowe to clash in the final.
However, it was the end of a successful run for Persaud and Beaton who had upset Harry Panday and Joseph De Jonge the previous day.
Day 10 (Wednesday) of the competition saw Afruica Gentle and Carol Humphrey showcasing great team work as they claimed the Open Ladies Doubles title. They started shakily against Areta Dey and Nicola Ramdyhan but held the fort to win the right points when it mattered. Although Gentle struggled a little at the beginning with her volleys, she found better shots in the second set as Humphrey anchored the team with strategies and backup with the net points. Dey and Ramdyhan played an exceptional game to come back in the second set but were unable to force a tiebreaker. The elation was visible as Gentle and Humphrey closed the game at 6/4, 7/5.
On Tuesday in the Men’s Doubles Open, Daniel Lopes and Nicholas Glasgow ended Mark McDonald’s and Hemraj Resaul’s run by winning in two straight sets 6/2, 6/2. The brave shots and tactical play were counteracted by the crafty and power tennis of Glasgow and Lopes.
In the other Quarter Finals of that category, fans were delighted to see big server Nicholas Fenty team up with doubles partner, Leyland Leacock. Although Fenty was under the weather his serves were still a force to be reckoned with. e easily held serves to complement Leacock’s net game. Their opponents, Stephen Bailey and Oswin Coggins, fought hard but were outplayed.
Fenty and Leacock won the match 6/1, 6/1; the team will do battle in the semi-finals match against Nicholas Glasgow and Daniel Lopes.
