After some early jitters, the members of the Barbados Under-16 team to the Junior and Infantile Tennis International Championships for Central America and the Caribbean (JITIC) have begun to score some wins in the Dominican Republic.
The team comprises Melena Lopez, Samiya Dottin and Cherise Slocombe. They are accompanied by Kevin Yarde, the national tennis coordinator.
In the opening round robin matches on Sunday, Lopez had an error-filled match and lost in straight sets 4-3, 4-0 to Erin Strachan of The Bahamas.
Only two points were played in the match between Slocombe and Jessica Hinojose of Mexico before the rain came, forcing its postponement.
When the match continued yesterday morning, Slocombe lost 4-0, 4-1.
However, in the second match, she was able to control the early nerves and after losing the first set 2-7, came back to win 4-0, 4-1.
Lopez also found her form against Trinidadian Amanda Soo ping Chow, and won in straight sets 4-2, 5-3 to also finish second in her group.
Dottin has been drawn in a group of four.
Yesterday, she had a shaky start, but by the time she settled down, it was too late and lost 4-0, 4-2 to Puerto Rico’s Sabrina Navarro.
In the second match against Ana Gabriela Meis from Panama, Dottin allowed some bad line calls to affect her play and she lost 2-4, 4-2, 4-1.
She will play her third round robin this morning before the main draw is done.(PR/SAT)
