Shania Williams carries Vincentian fight

Shania Williams was the lone Vincentian who made it to the semi-final round of the Under-14 COTEC category of the 2012 First Citizens Bank International Tennis Federation Junior Tennis Tournament,{{more}} being held here at the National Tennis Centre at Villa

and the Haddon Hotels courts at the Grassroot Tennis Club at Murray’s Road.

Williams, who started playing tennis in February 2010, in her debut outing at this level, successfully navigated the entry round of the competition.

In her first match in the main draw, Williams defeated Jovan Davidson of Trinidad and Tobago, 6-0, 2-6, 7-5.

In the semi-finals, the ambidextrous Williams, came up against Barbadian LLana Blackwood, but lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

Other Vincentian Under-14 players making the main draw were Chelsea Haslam and Denee Lyttle in the Girls Under-14, but they were knocked out in the first round.

Haslam lost to Blackwood — 6-3, 6-4 — and Lyttle to Antiguan Jessica Isaac — 6-2, 6-0.

Among the boys, Dejeante Simmons, along with Alexander and Sebastian Cyrus, got to the first round of the main draw, but no further.

Simmons lost to Trinidadian Nabeel Mohammed — 6-0, 6-1, while Alexander Cyrus went under to Paul Oliver of the British Virgin Islands — 7-6, 4-6, 6-3. Sebastian Cyrus was overpowered by Jelani Davidson of Trinidad and Tobago — 6-2, 6-1.

Several other local players featured in the consolation draw of the Under-14 age group.

Among the Under-18 boys, all the Vincentian entrants, Imani King, Rafai Bentick, Julio Francis and Kevin Huggins, were knocked out in the first round of the main draw.

Bentick and St Lucian Omodele Phillips teamed up in the doubles and were successful in their first round against Carlos de la Cruz of the Dominican Republic and Eric Wagner of the USA.

However, when Bentick and Phillips paired off against Matthew Hutchinson of Barbados and Grenada’s Jannik James, they lost 6-2, 6-0, to the number seeds.

St Vincent and the Grenadines had no entrants in the girls’ Under-18.

The other participating countries are Guatemala, the Czech Republic, Grenada, Russia, Britain, Venezuela, Austria, Canada, Guyana, Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Sweden.

The tournament, which attracted over 100 foreign players, ends tomorrow. (RT)