Home|Sports|Junior tennis tournament in full swingSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailJanuary 9, 2023 113 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) got its first competition for new calendar year underway on Saturday. The second day of the BLTA’s New Year’s Tournament for the under-14 and under-16 divisions wrapped up on Sunday at the BLTA’s National Tennis Centre inside the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre.
Youth national team players Tatyana Madu and Briana Houlgrave are playing in both divisions and punched their tickets to the final in both divisions.
Madu is the number one seed in the under-14 girls division and received a bye in the opening round of that division. In the second round, she took care of the unranked Aryauna-Skye Davis in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-1.
The Grand Bahamian then played in the under-16 division where she is the number two seeded player. She was in action against Claudia Drgon in the semifinals. Madu won a tough first set 7-5 and then won the second set 6-2. In the opening round on Saturday, Madu shut out Jasleen Salkey, 6-0 and 6-0.
Houlgrave, the second seed, powered her way to the finals in the under-14 division when she took care of Millie Beukes, 7-5 and 6-2. On Saturday, she defeated Drgon, 6-2 and 6-4.
After taking down Beukes, Houlgrave had a tough game ahead of her against the number one seed in the under-16 division, Saphirre Ferguson. Houlgrave was able to pull off the upset, winning 6-4 and 6-2.
Houlgrave and Madu will play in the under-14 final today at 3:30 p.m. They will play the under-16 final tomorrow.
On the boys side, the semifinals for the under-14 and under-16 divisions are set. The under-14 boys semifinals will pit number one seed Patrick Mactaggart against Synaj Watkins and Chase Newbold against Panagiotis Mousis.
Mousis will play in the under-16 boys division semifinals when he takes on the number two seed Jackson Mactaggart. In the other semifinal, William McCartney will play Reeves Mahelis.
Jackson Mactaggart took care of his younger sibling Patrick in straight sets, winning 6-2 and 6-3, to advance to the under-16 semifinals. Mousis fell 3-6 in the first set against Ayai Bethel, but stormed back to win the second set 6-4 before winning 10-7 in the third set tiebreak.
McCartney easily took care of his opponent Watkins. He shut him out, 6-0 and 6-0. Mahelis, like Mousis, lost the opening set before rebounding in the quarterfinals. He fell 3-6 to Miguel Smith in that
opening set, but then battled back to win the match, 3-6, 7-5 and 10-6.
In the under-14 boys division, Newbold had a tough time against Atharva Hombal as he dropped the first set 6-7(1). He managed to regroup and won the next two sets, 6-0 and 10-5. Mousis upset the number two seed Mahelis in two straight sets, coming out on top 6-4 and 6-4. Patrick Mactaggart easily took care of Cohen Knowles in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-1. The diminutive Watkins won over Bethel, 6-3 and 6-3, to reach the semis.
The under-14 boys semifinals are set for today at 2 p.m. The under-16 boys semifinals will be played any time after 3:30 p.m. today.