Three teenagers starred on another rain-affected fixture when the Silver Hill Road Tennis Tournament continued Tuesday night.
The main event would have been the quarter-final showdown between defending champion Antonio “Lil Man” Daniel and Davian “Force Ripe” Taylor as well as the battle between three-time king Mark “Venom” Griffith and Emar Edwards. Those matches were rescheduled for last night.
The tone was set earlier for some exciting tennis when 12-year-old island wide champion Shakeem Nurse came from a set down to defeat Dominic Browne 18-21, 21-15, 21-13 in a 17-and-under match. Last month, Daryll Jordan student Nurse was good enough to defeat adults to win the Vincent “Sno-cone” Wilkinson amateur tournament in Bush Hall.
Southpaw teenagers Ezekiel “Ezee” Ward and Nicolas “Nik-Nik” Ellis then displayed their full repertoire of shots to whet the appetite of the fans. In a 17-and-under contest, Ward seemed threatened by Justin Vaughan before evaporating the challenge 21-15, 21-11.
Ellis pulled off an in-house victory by defeating former champion Adrian “Howlie” Walker 21-15, 20-22, 21-15. After losing the first game, Walker struggled to take the second after leading 18-12. But after barely losing that deuced game, Ellis unfurled some tremendous shots to stun and deny his elder opponent.
Former table tennis champion Julia Morris-Young looked good in patches but could not thread those patches together as a cautious higher ranked Abigail Haynes took their women’s contest 21-14, 21-11.
Juliet Worrell, who would have exposed former Barbados footballer Asabi Downey to the world of road tennis in her Touch Of Class Tournaments, then revealed greater skills by taking their first game 21-15. That match was to continue last night as well.
Tonight the fans will be hoping for good weather with some enticing quarter-final matches on the menu. In the women’s offerings, champion Kim Holder plays Margo Lorde while Maudlyn Blunt battles Susan Scantlebury.
The men’s open will see Darius “Baracus” Gaskin opposing Julian “Michael Jackson” White and Curtis Jones clashing with Marson Johnson. (KB)
