Teenager Matthew Hutchinson beat Devard Wharton 7-5, 6-2 in the men’s open final of the Courtesy Garage Championships at the Ocean View Courts yesterday.
It was the first open title for the 18-year-old lefty, who announced his return from Florida by stunning top-seeded Russell Moseley in the semis before dispatching Wharton in just under 90 minutes.
“Right now, I think I can beat anyone in Barbados, and that may sound cocky, but that’s just my confidence,” said Hutchinson moments after wrapping up the straight sets win.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been playing Russell [Moseley] in the first round the last couple of times but this time I got him a little later in the tournament, so I had some rhythm coming in.”
But Hutchinson never found that rhythm in the early exchanges after trading four breaks within the first six games of the match, while routinely spraying his forehand all over the place.
And he almost dropped the opening set too, having double-faulted to go down 15-30, while trailing 4-5 to put Wharton two points away from taking a one-set lead.
However, Hutchinson rattled off two big service winners and a huge forehand passing shot down the line before breaking Wharton to close out the set on his following service game.
“It might have been 5-4 to him but it’s on my serve and it’s my duty to hold,” said Hutchinson.
“There was a little bit of pressure, but I believe in myself and I believe in my serve, plus I was always confident that I could win the match.”
It proved to be the match’s turning point as Wharton dropped five games in succession, including his opening service game of the second set that allowed Hutchinson to take a quick 2-0 cushion.
With Wharton looking out of sorts and failing to string together successive groundstrokes, Hutchinson broke again for a 4-1 advantage before Wharton pulled back one of those breaks in the next game.
But Hutchinson responded with a massive forehand return winner to break back at love, and then closed out on a telling inside-out passing shot after saving two successive break points.
Earlier, Melena Lopez wrapped up the women’s open crown by whipping Donna Gibbs 6-0, 6-0.
