OCEAN VIEW Tennis Club’s Christmas Toy Mixed Doubles Tournament saw 34 players, including members of the Barbados Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams, joining players from several clubs last weekend to participate in the second annual charity event.
Barbados’ No. 1 player and current world No. 312 Darian King played with partner Helen Roper and withstood the challenge of the in-form Fed Cup player Melena Lopez and junior national Aquille Trotman in the final to win the tournament for the second consecutive time.
The tournament, which was organised by the Lopez family of Ocean View Tennis Club, required all participants to provide a gift to be donated to a child at the Nightingale Children’s home.
On the final day of action, Davis Cup player Russell Moseley and 12-year-old Aleysha “Lilly” Alleyne narrowly lost in a tie-breaker 8-7 to Lopez and Trotman, while Kyle Frost and Ilana Blackwood defeated Ryan Moseley and Gabby Lopez 8-3 in another quarter final.
In the semi-final battle of the juniors, Lopez and Trotman booked a berth in the final with a comfortable 8-4 victory over Frost and Blackwood.
On the other side of the draw, Andrew Thornton and the visiting Ana Moreira Sanchez defeated former Fed Cup player Donna Gibbs and the hard-hitting Mykell Reifer 8-5 before losing to King and Roper 8-5 in the semi-finals.
The final between King/Roper and Lopez/Trotman was a tough match which saw some excellent net play from Lopez as the juniors broke Roper and King to take a 3-1 lead.
King then took control from the baseline to dominate with solid ground strokes which created the chances that allowed them to finish the points. King served at six-all deuce and Lopez was unable to convert the break opportunity.
In the end, Trotman was broken in the last game as King and Roper went on to win the final 8-6.
Tournament organiser Caroline Lopez, despite being away, was able to find time to coordinate the tournament, ably assisted by daughters Gabby and Melena, while father of Davis Cup player Seanon Williams, Owen Williams, blessed the gifts and thanked the players for their donations to a worthy cause. (ROG/PR)
