The top guns are definitely firing on all cylinders.
For the most part, the seeded players in the North West Foundation Monarchs of the Court road tennis tournament have so far stayed true to form and look set to advance to the knockout round.
In an unusual move, tennis started at 10 a.m. yesterday at the Belfield court, but that didn’t stop the usual suspects from taking centre stage.
In Zone 2, both Mark “Venom” Griffith and Antoine “Lil Man” Daniel look set to qualify for the round of 16 after they both won their respective matches to rush to six points.
Playing in his first competition for the year, Curtis Jones, along with wily veteran Junior “Snake” Quimby sit atop Zone 3 after they also won both their matches.
The third-ranked Jones, who hadn’t played since losing in the final of the United Insurance Clash Of The Titans competition last November, wasn’t at his clinical best, but still managed to sneak past Allan Davidson and Jamal Branch.
Anthony “Ears” Mitchell predictably booked his spot in the next round, going unbeaten in Zone 4 with easy wins over Kyle King and Lloyd “Dickman” Burke.
Surprisingly though, King looks set to advance after defeating Burke 23-21, in a zone which has been affected by the withdrawal of two players.
The top-seeded Julian “Michael Jackson” White also predictably topped Zone 1, winning all three of his matches, the last against Ryan Hall 21-11 yesterday.
Marson Johnson, the fifth seed, also comfortably advanced from Zone 5, after winning all three of his matches, to amass nine points.
However, the day wasn’t without upsets as seeded players David Arendell and Michael “Mikey” Jean both suffered defeats to leave their zones open.
In Zone 6, Arendell was defeated by junior Dario Hinds 21-17, while Jean was upended by Anderson “St George” Sealy 21-15 in Zone 8 play.
These two upsets though paled in comparison to the ones dished out by newcomer Abbie “Playboy” Clarke and Jerry Harris.
Clarke, a former national table tennis champion, stunned the large crowd on hand by disposing of Shibbir Greenidge 21-19.
The dreadlocked Clarke showed his cold-blooded instinct when he whipped two forehand winners past Greenidge with the score locked at 19 to seal the victory.
Harris, a virtual unknown, then rallied from a late four-point deficit to defeat former islandwide champion Charles “McEnroe” Griffith 21-18.
What made the acheivement that more impressive was the fact that Griffith actually led 18-14, before Harris settled down and won seven consecutive points.
