Guyana’s u-14 and u-18 tennis teams returned home on Friday following a dismal outing in Tobago with only Kalyca Fraser able to make it to the semi-finals.
After first losing to Lilly Lancer in the qualifying matches of the u-14 girls’ category 1-4, 2-4, Fraser squeaked past Yen Lee in a match that went to a tiebreaker in the deciding set. She then took her revenge on Lancer knocking her out in the main draw, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 but lost in the semifinals against Megan William 6-0, 6-0. Fraser told Stabroek Sport that it was a good experience and she will fight harder in future matches.
Daniel Lopes made his first main draw of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) u-18 tournament but fell to Che Andrews from Trinidad and Tobago in the first round 6-1-6-2. After defeating Flynn Von Waldau 6-0, 6-0, he said: “it was a different experience making my first u-18 main draw but it was a good experience to learn from. Obviously, in retrospect I think of things I could have done differently but my preparation helped me to execute my game plan and I was excited making my first u-18 main draw.”
On the fourth try in the ITF circuit, Nicola Ramdyhan was able to make it into the second round after she dismantled Carissa Rodulfo of Trinidad 6-3, 6-0. However, she was then outmatched by fifth seed Sabinda Dadaciu from the USA with a score of 6-1, 6-1. She felt that she had a better result in the tournament because “I was motivated to make it deeper into the draws. I think my foot work is what caused my defeat in the match among other things I need to work on.
