Barbados’ last hope is still alive.
Local junior Matthew Hutchinson is set to appear in today’s International Junior Tennis boys’ doubles final, having paired with Grenadian Yannick James in yesterday’s 6-4, 6-3 semi-final victory over Stefan Cooper and Jonathan Deautriell at the Wildey Tennis Centre.
The win secured Barbados’ only finals appearance in any of the main draws as the local players, except Hutchinson, all fell in the tournament’s early rounds.
The sturdy left-hander looked in control from the get-go, as he and James raced to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set after dominating all facets of the game.
Both players squandered a chance to close out that set on their serve, allowing Cooper and Deautriell to claw their way back into the contest.
“We just lost concentration and started to relax a little bit,” said Hutchinson. “We thought it was easy but it’s never easy.”
The unseeded Caribbean pair will face Brits Thomas Colautti and Callum Poland-Smith after the English duo beat Mexicans Santiago Cevallos and Pablo Landa Catan 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi.
Colautti has already booked his spot in the singles final, having ended the run of upset-minded countryman Alexander Sendegeya in a straight-sets 6-3, 6-3 victory. He will meet second seed Jhonatan Gonzalez after the Venezuelan defeated Tom Hill, another Brit, 6-2, 6-1 in an earlier semi-final.
In the girls’ draw, top-ranked Russians Kristina Chasovskikh and Renata Arshavskaya justified their seeding after both advanced to the final.
Chasovskikh downed seventh-seeded American Katrine Isabel Steffensen 6-2, 6-1 before Arshavskaya thrashed twin sister Adel 6-0, 6-2.
The sisters then paired later to reach the doubles final by beating American duo Breaunna Addison and Vlada Rabin 7-5, 6-4. Chasovskikh will also be playing in that final as she and Canadian Catherine Leduc beat British sisters Anneka and Sophie Watts 6-2, 6-0.
