Jamaica captured nine individual titles at the 2016 Blue Mountain Caribbean Junior Tennis Championships which ended at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston last Friday.

Blaise Bicknell, who was seeded at the top in the boys’ 18-and-under singles, had to work very hard to defeat his compatriot unseeded Luke Quaynor 6-1, 6-7 (7-3 tie breaker), 13-11 (super tie breaker).

Bicknell said he was proud of his victory, as it was a hard-fought one where Quaynor pushed him all the way.

“I was also confident of coming out victorious, and it was the first time I am playing him in any match. He, however, is a very good player and it was also very close in the super tie breaker which I won,” Bicknell said.

Bicknell, 14 years old, said he was looking forward to doing well at the ITF Jamaica Invitational Tennis Championships scheduled to start on Monday in Jamaica, as it will be the first time he will be playing in the Under-18 boys’ singles.

Losing finalist Quaynor said it was a tough match, but admitted that he made too many mistakes, especially in the super tie breaker.

“I tried to get too aggressive in the super tie breaker when I was up 7-5 and produced many errors, while Bicknell changed his playing tactics as he is also an aggressive player. He did it cleverly by switching his game to a much slower pace,” Quaynor said.

Quaynor added that he is looking to perform much better at the ITF Jamaica Junior Tennis.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Emma Dibbs, seeded at the top in the girls’ 18-and-under singles, easily defeated her compatriot, fourth-seeded Hayley McNair, in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

The boys’ 16 and under singles final was won by Jamaica’s Damani Cain, who rallied from a set down to beat unseeded Callum Theaker of the Cayman Islands 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 (super tie-breaker).

In another all-Jamaica affair, third-seeded Michaela Stephens captured the girls’ 16 and under singles title, beating second seed Jenna Harrison in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Cain of Jamaica captured his second title by stopping the giant-killing performance of unseeded Hiemral Resaul of Guyana in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to win the boys’ 14-and-under singles title.

Jenna Harrison of Jamaica, seeded at number one, captured the girls’ 14 and under singles title by registering a convincing straight sets 6-1, 6-3 win over her unseeded compatriot Lauren Fullerton.

Unseeded Jack Lomax of the Caymans Islands defeated his compatriot Oskar Bjuro in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 to win the boys’ 12-and-under singles title, while the girls’ 12-and-under singles final was won by Jamaica’s Alyssa James with a 6-4, 6-4 margin over Savannah Thompson, also of Jamaica.

The boys’ 16-18 open doubles was won by the pair of Blaise of Jamaica and Theaker of the Cayman Islands, who defeated the Cayman Islands pair of Lomax and Bjuro 6-4.

Harrison Clough and Jake Serpell of the Cayman Islands won the boys’ 12-14 open doubles final by defeating Lomax and Bjuro of the Cayman Islands 6-4.

Jamaica also won the boys’ team event title, beating the Cayman Islands 2-0. Jamaica’s boys’ teams consisted of Jacob Bicknell, Cliff Dwyer and Miles Harrison. Bicknell crushed Theaker 8-0, while Dwyer beat Lomax 8-2.

The sportsmanship awards went to Anish Sharma of Guyana in the boys’ section, while the girls’ section saw Alyssa James of Jamaica winning the award.