The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HAVING recovered from the shock of being close to an earthquake in Trinidad & Tobago, top ranked Bahamian players Sydney Clarke and Donte Armbrister advanced from their first round set of matches at the Tobago Junior ITF Championships on Wednesday.

As the number one seed in the girls’ singles main draw, Clarke got a bye in the first round, but easily won her second match 6-0, 6-0 over Selene Kentish of Antigua and Barbuda.

“I’m now in the quarters, so I’m looking for the same results tomorrow (Thursday),” Clarke proclaimed. “I want to have a good day by going out on the court and playing hard and getting the results that I want. So I had a good day today. I practised all of my shots and I played like I wanted to win. So there will be more good stuff tomorrow.”

Clarke is also playing doubles where she is teaming up with Tangia Riley-Codrington from Barbados as the top seeded team. Their first round victims were the Trinidad & Tobago combo of Isabel Abraham and Keesa Lee Loung, whom they beat 6-1, 6-1.

“We had a good match on court. Our opponents played well. We had little ups and downs, but we played well,” Clarke said. “Overall, we hope to win the doubles for the tournament. So we will just continue pushing and try to do our best to win.”

Riley-Codrington said they couldn’t ask for a better start to the tournament.

“Playing with Sydney has been a wonderful experience and I really hope that we can win the tournament,” she said. “It was a very good match. Our opponents were very good. They put up a good fight, but we played our hardest.”

Meanwhile, Armbrister, in his first round match in the boys’ singles, had to come from behind to pull off a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 decision over American Jakub Ostajewski.

“The match was a good match. I think I played a clean match from start to finish,” Armbrister said. “I only got broken once. My opponent was good at the net, so he was giving me some trouble when he came to the net. But I rested and coming down the stretch in the third, he put some pressure, but I was able to come out with the win.”

Armbrister also had some double duties as he teamed up with Romani Mayers from Barbados. The duo won their first round match 6-2, 6-2 over the pair of Liam Sheppard from Trinidad & Tobago and Heimraj Resaul from Guyana.

“I enjoy playing with Romani. He and I always have fun on the court, no matter if we are winning or losing,” Armbrister stated. “We try to enjoy our game. We hope to win the doubles tournament.”

Mayers said it’s all about developing their chemistry together.

“Me and Donte play very strategic doubles. We usually have everything planned out before we play each point,” he pointed out. “We look forward to playing another strategic match in the semifinal match.”

They closed out play in the late match as they won their quarter-final match 6-1, 6-1 over Russell Armstrong and Kobe James from Trinidad & Tobago.

“It was kind of tough playing our third match of the day. But both me and my partner Romani were able to pull it out,” Armbrister said. “We look forward to our semifinal tomorrow (today).”

Two weeks ago at the Coca-Cola ITF Junior Tennis Tournament in St Lucia, Armbrister lost in the quarterfinal in singles and he and Mayers made it to the final where they were beaten by the Trinidad & Tobago pair of Aidan Carter and Adam Ramkissoon 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Clarke, again playing at the top seed, lost in the final in singles 6-1, 6-3 to Canadian No.7 seed Dasha Plekhanova. In doubles, Clarke and Riley-Codrinton, the No.2 seeds, suffered a 6-1, 6-0 loss to the No.3 team of Zeba Jamal and Anjali Mogili from the United States of America.

Although Trinidad & Tobago, along with Venezuela and Grenada, were hit by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake on Tuesday, the tournament was not affected and all of the players were safe and accounted for. Clarke and Armbrister are the only two Bahamian players participating in the tournament.