Jamaica bounced from ITF Billie Jean King Cup
JAMAICA were knocked out of the 2021 International Tennis Federation (ITF) Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis championships, Americas Zone group two, round robin competition at the Club de Tenis La Paz clay court in Bolivia on Thursday.
The Jamaicans suffered their second-straight defeat in Pool A of their round robin competition to Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, to finish at the bottom of the standings without a point.
The black, green and gold-clad women were beaten in both ties 3-0 by the Dominican Republic on Thursday after suffering a similar 3-0 defeat to top seed Guatemala the previous day. Each tie consists of two singles and a doubles match in the round robin competition.
In the first singles match against Guatemala, Katherine Dibbs lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-2 to Melissa Morales, the top singles player for Guatemala, in 51 minutes.
Jamaica’s number one singles player Junmoke James, the American-born debutant who attends Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, also lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 21 minutes.
Already beaten, the Jamaican doubles pair of Shea-Ann Kameka and Katherine Dibbs was beaten 1-6, 1-6 by Melissa Morales and Gabriela Rivera, to complete the 3-0 margin.
Against the Dominican Republic, Dibbs opened the first singles match for the Jamaicans and went down in straight sets at love and love in 57 minutes to Maria Gell.
Williford Kelly then defeated Junmoke James at love and two as Dominican Republic took a commanding 2-0 lead.
James and Pauline Hylton were no match for Gell and Kelly who won 6-1, 6-1 to complete the tie 3-0.
Jamaica had not played in the competition since 2004 and will be in action in the play-offs for positions against Puerto Rico today.
Guatemala topped Pool A with two wins, followed by Dominican Republic with one win and a loss, while the Jamaicans finished last with two defeats from two ties.
Meanwhile, Bolivia won all their three ties to finish on top in Pool A as they will go up against Guatemala today to decide the winner of Group Two, which will be promoted to Group One next year.
Second was Honduras with two wins and one loss, Puerto Rico was third with one win and two defeats, and Barbados finished fourth after losing all three ties.
— Gerald Reid
