The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ALL of the remaining seeded players in the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s Junkanoo Bowl ITF Junior Circuit Tournament advanced to the second round, while the final Bahamian got eliminated.

Abigail Simms, the final player carrying the Bahamian flag at the National Tennis Centre, lost a 6-3, 6-2 decision to American Skyler Miller as the final eight matches in the first round were completed.

“It was tiring,” said Simms after the match. “I was a little shaky. I didn’t play my best strokes. I was kind of banged up a little bit. I tried my best.”

Simms, 15, said Miller just simply played much better than she did.

Miller, making her debut in the Bahamas, said the Bahamian people were so kind and welcoming and coupled with going on the beach, she’s enjoyed her stay here so far.

“My match was really good,” Miller said. “The girl from the Bahamas was really good. I hit some big serves and she returned a lot of them. But I was the aggressor in the match.”

Miller broke Simms in the first game and she held until 5-3 when she broke Simms again to take the first set.  Then in the second set, Miller broke at 2-1, but Simms returned the favour. Miller, a 17-year-old resident from Oklahoma, got another break at 5-2 and held serve for the game, set and match.

“I expect to play well,” Miller projected. “I’ve been training hard and I hope to continue to do very well in the rest of the tournament. Hopefully I can go very far in the tournament.”

In one of the two matches featuring seeded players, No.2 seed Lulu Radovic from Switzerland didn’t have any mercy as she blanked American Macey Miller 6-0, 6-0.

“It was good. I was pretty confident and I played very well,” said Radovic, 15, who is playing here for the first time as well. “I was the one who was the most aggressive. I really like being here in the Bahamas. I hope that I can be first place.”

The other seeded player on the girls’ side was American Nada Dimovska, who at No.5 also made easy work of her opponent, winning 6-1, 6-0 over River Hart from Canada.

The only seeded player on the boys’ side in action was American Rohan Jachuck. The No.3 seed eliminated Kyle Frankel from Aruba 6-4, 6-1.

Beside the few singles played, the doubles matches got underway yesterday as well, but none of the Bahamian players advanced.

O’Neal Mortimer and Nagid Walle lost 6-1, 6-2 to Santiago Hinojosa from Mexico and William Peters from the USA and John Kelly, teaming up with American Joshua Bode, lost 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 to No.3 seeds Kyle Frankel from Aruba and Ronan Jachuck from the USA.

And on the girls’ side, Sierra Donaldson and Afrika Smith lost 6-1, 6-1 to the top seeded team of Willa Bay Breunich from the USA and Lula Radovic from Switzerland; Isabel Donaldson teamed up weith Ilana Blackwood from Jamaica, but they loist 6-3, 6-2 to Americans Nada Dimovska and Jennifer Gadalov and Gabrielle and Hannah-Joy Simms lost 6-1, 6-1 to the Canadian duo of River Hart and Alexandra Tutecky.

The tournament will continue today at 9 ma with the boys playing their second round singles, followed by the girls. The day will conclude with doubles.

BLTA’s Junkanoo Bowl ITF Jr Circuit Tournament Results

• Here’s a look at the results of Tuesday’s matches

played in the BLTA’s Junkanoo Bowl ITF Junior

Circuit Tournament at the National Tennis Centre:

Boys’ singles

Niah Schschter (USA) def. Nagid Walle (BAH) b6-0, 6-2.

Nicholas Watson (USA) def. Tatsuki Shimamoto (JPN) 6-4, 6-4.

William Peters (USA) def. George Davis (GBR) 6-2, 6-0.

Ronan Jachuck (USA) (3) def. Kyle Frankel  (ARU) 6-4, 6-1.

Girls’ singles

Skyler Miller (USA) def. Abigail Simms (BAH) 6-3, 6-2.

Nada Dimovska (USA) (5) def. River Hart (CAN) 6-1, 6-1.

Lula Radovcic (SUI) (2) def. Macey Miller (USA) 6-0, 6-0.

Holly Fischer (GBR) def. Catherine Xu (USA) 6-0, 6-1.

Boys’ doubles

Robert Hammond (USA)/Sebastian Mermersky (BUL) (1) def. Dimitri Bird/Roger Lyn (USA) 7-5, 7-5.

Zummy Bauer/Trey Hilderbrand (USA) (4) def. Dennis Moses (ZIM)/Eduardo Roldan (MEX) 7-5, 6-3.

Arthur Bernabe (FRA)/Zachary Garner (USA) (2) def. Michael Agee (USA)/Lleyton Cronje (RSA) 6-7 (3), 6-1, 10-3.

Liam Draxl (CAN)/Nathan Han (USA) def. Amaury De Beer (MRI)/Vasyl Kiseylyov (UKA) 3-6, 6-3, 13-11.

Santiago Hinojosa (MEX)/William Peters (USA) def. O’Neal Mortimer/Nagid Walle (BAH) 6-1, 6-2.

Kyle Frankel (ARU)/Ronan Jachuck (USA) (3) def. Joshua Bode (USA)/John Kelly (BAH) 6-3, 3-6, 10-4.

Drew Baird/Noah Schachter (USA) def. George Davis (GBR)/Tatsuki Shimamoto (JPN) 6-4, 6-2.

Jacob Beasley/Nicholas Watson (USA) def. David Leader/Luke Stirling (BER) 6-0, 6-0.

Elena Gemovic (SRB)/Imani Graham (USA) def. Natsumi Kawaguchi (JPN)/Taysia Rogers (USA) 5-7, 6-1, 10-6.

Girls’ doubles

Hurricane Tyra Black/Meg Kowalski (USA) (2) def. Rachel Treibick Caplan (USA)/Lucia De Santa Ana (URU) W/O.

Willa Bay Breunich (USA)/Lula Radovcic (SUI) (1) def. Sierra Donaldson/Afrika Smith (BAH) 6-1, 6-1.

Nada Dimovska/Jennifer Gadalov (USA) def. Ilana Blackwood (JAM)/Isabel Donaldson (BAH) 6-3, 6-2.

Jenna Dean/Amanda Meyer (USA) (4) def. Meredith G. Jones (PHI_/Catherine Xu (USA) W/O.

Holly Fioscher (GBR)/Brianna Tulloch (USA) def. Isabella Mermersky/Shelly Yaloz (USA) 6-2, 6-2.

River Hart/Alexandra Tutecky (CAN) def. Gabriella/Hannah-Hoy Simms (BAH) 6-1, 6-1.

Jimar Gerald (CHI)/Alyssa Mayo (USA) def. Macey/Skyler Miller (USA) 6-2, 3-6, 10-7.