The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SOME of the Bahamas’ best junior tennis players continue their tour of tournaments around the Caribbean, with the latest stop this week in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Simone Pratt continues to excel as the top seed in yet another event, the SVGTA ITF Junior National. She advanced to the semifinal yesterday with a three-set win (4-6, 6-1, 6-2) over Jade Hilton of Canada.

Pratt received a bye in the opening round and in round two disposed of Noah Peters of Antigua and Barbuda in straight sets (6-0, 6-0). Danielle Thompson, seeded No.2, did not fare as well as she was eliminated in the quarterfinal with a 3-6, 4-6 loss to Ajana Suresh of Canada.

In round one she defeated Kezia Koroma of Trinidad and Tobago, 6-2, 6-1. It was her second loss to Suresh in as many weeks at the quarterfinal round of a tournament.

Pratt has earned 135 ITF points on tour since March this year. Her ITF ranking as of Monday, August 19, is 270. Last week she captured the Girls 18 championship at the Coca Cola ITF Tournament (Grade 5) with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Breana Stampfli of Trinidad and Tobago, good for 30 ITF points.

Thompson, ranked third, was eliminated by Suresh in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 3-6.

In July, she scored 40 ITF points with an historic Junkanoo Bowl (Grade 4) title victory on home soil after Sofia Kenin of the US retired midway through the second set.

In April, she scored 50 ITF points when she reached the final of the 2013 JITIC (Grade B3) tournament in the Dominican Republic where she lost 6-2, 6-4 to Cassandra Vazquez of Mexico.

During the summer she also competed internationally at the senior level as a member of the Bahamas’ Fed Cup team which received promotion to Group I.