Clarke, Morris top at Tennis Jamaica Junior Tournament
TOP seeds Keyondre Clarke and Kallila Morris captured the boys’ and girls’ 16 and under singles titles, respectively at the two-day 2020 Tennis Jamaica Junior Tournament first in the series played at Eric Bell Tennis Centre recently.
They won all their matches without dropping a set.
Clarke comfortably defeated second-seeded Delano Reeves in the 16 and under finals 6-2, 6-4, while Morris got the better of sixth-seeded Nyle Barnes 8-6.
In the semi-finals, Clarke easily eliminated fourth-seeded Kaiel Casserly 7-5, 6-2 after a keenly fought first set, while Reeves beat third-seeded Jason Duval 6-3.
Clarke had also won 8-0 over eighth-seeded Joel Villario in the quarter-finals, and 8-0 against Zachary Morgan in the second round, while receiving a bye in the first round.
Reeves’ other wins leading up to the final after getting a bye into the second round were 6-2 over unseeded Nickoli Morgan, and 8-1 against unseeded Matthew Wright in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, in the girls’ 16 and under semi-finals, Morris defeated fifth-seeded Zarah Buchanan 8-6 and won her quarter-finals encounter 8-0 over unseeded Lisa Thomas. She had won her second-round match 8-1 over unseeded Zoe Scarlett and got a bye into the second round.
On her way to the final Barnes had gained a bye into the second round, where she blanked Kayla Fairman 8-0, knocked out fourth-seeded Julie Madden in a close game 8-6 in quarter-finals, before conquering second-seeded Eva Pinchas 8-6 in the semi-finals.
Unseeded Yohan Doshi defeated top-seeded Leo Cuff 6-4 in capturing the boys’ 12 and under singles title.
Doshi had beaten unseeded Jacob Christian 8-2 in his first round, Reese Williams 8-2 in the second round, second-seeded Mikale Williams 8-3 in quarter-finals, and Zephaniah Umrao in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Cuff reached the final by defeating, unseeded Saied Grant in second-round action 6-4, unseeded Devante Haughton 6-0 in the quarter-finals, and third-seeded Daniel Gordon 6-4 in the semi-finals.
The girls’ 12 and under singles title was won by top-seeded Arianne James, who defeated second-seeded Dacia Douglas 6-4.
James drew a bye in the second and went through to the semi-finals during which she defeated unseeded Rhianna Whyte 7-6 (7-2 tiebreaker set) to reach the final, while Douglas crushed unseeded Madison Allwood 6-0 to reach the final.
Tournament director David Sanguinetti noted that there were 65 entries in the 16 and 12 and under boys’ and girls’ singles.
However, he said the boys’ and girls’ 18, and 14 and under singles in the series which were scheduled for the previous weekend were postponed due to the the nationwide response to coronavirus disease.