The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

As the number two seeded player in the girls' draw, Sydney Clarke wanted to make sure that she played up to the expectations for the Junkanoo Bowl International Junior Tennis Tournament at the National Tennis Centre.

Meanwhile Jacobi Bain, unseeded, knew that he would have to play far better than any expectations as he faced the boys' top seeded player, Alexandre LeBlanc of Canada, in Tuesday's second round of the main draw.

When it was over, Clarke got through with an impressive 6-4, 6-1 victory over Kayla Solagnier from Aruba. However, Bain fell in straight set scores of 6-1, 6-2 to LeBlanc.

Clarke, 16, was the lone Bahamian on the girls' side to advance after she watched Grand Bahamian Abigail Simms go down 6-0, 6-0 to American Rachel Gailis, the No.8 seed.

"The match was good. I was pleased with my play. My opponent played very well," Clarke said. "She was very consistent at times and she played a lot of balls. When we were tied at 2-2, I got very concerned because she started to come back.

"But I kept calm and I kept poised and I just played more aggressive."

As she moves on to the quarter-final for the second straight year, her goal this year is to get to the final and hopefully win it. She will have to get past Dharani Niroshan of Canada today, who pulled off an upset yesterday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No.5 seed Kriti Williams from the US.

"I expect more good things. I just need to be more consistent and just be more confident, shake off the nerves and just play my game," pointed out Clarke, the Bahamas' top female junior player who is ranked at 468 in the world.

In his match against 17-year-old LeBlanc, southpaw Bain, 15, knew that he would have his hands full.

The 6-foot, 4-inch LeBlanc, ranked at 306 in the world, left nothing for chance as he dominated the first set, going up 5-0 on a pair of breaks.

Bain, at 6-1, managed to break to get on the scoreboard but he was broken again to complete the first set.

In the second set, down a break, Bain held for a 3-1 deficit and he held again for a 4-2 margin. But LeBlanc regained his composure and proved why he was the player to watch as he held and broke to close out the match, thanks to Bain's three double fault serves in the final game.

"My match was pretty good, but the guy I played was the No.1 seed and he played pretty good all around," Bain said. "I tried my best. I didn't hit my first serve percentage, but other than that, everything was great."

All except his serve.

"I tried my best," Bain chuckled. "I just have to get better and improve on my forehand and get in a better serve percentage."

As for LeBlanc, who is making his debut here in the Bahamas, the match started out pretty good. "I was confident. I played a solid match, not too many mistakes and I was being aggressive and so I was happy with the match in general," he said. "It's really hot here, so I tried to get through the match as quickly as I could.

"But he (Bain) played very well. I know he's two years younger than me, but he has a lot of potential. He has a good tennis game."

LeBlanc said he's here for one thing and that is to win.

Also winning on the girls' side was top seed Tara Malik from the USA with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Gabrielle Leslie from Barbados. No.3 seed Zoe Hitt, also from the USA, won 6-0, 6-2 over Aleska Marquez from Peru; No.4 Nikita Vishwase, another American, won 6-2, 6-1 over Erica Chavarria from Costa Rica; No.6 seed Sandra Alonso from Spain won 6-4, 6-0 over American Kayla Dean and No. 7 Anika Jaskova from Slovakia won 6-1, 6-0 over American Kathryn Sturgis.

The only other seeded player on the boys' side was American Adam Neff at No.7, who won 7-5, 6-1 over Christian Felipe Winsted of Costa Rica. One other match was held with Credit Chaiyarin from Thailand winning over Nikolas Tvedt from Norway 6-2, 6-2.

The remainder of the matches played were doubles.

Only the Grand Bahamian sisters combo of Abigail and Gabrielle Simms survived as they teamed up to win 6-3, 6-1 over the American-Bahamian duo of Peyton Lynn Anderson and Donesha Gibson, also of Grand Bahama.

Bahamians Sydni Kerr and Emma Weech lost 6-1, 6-1 to Ericka Chavarria and Gabrielle Leslie and Bahamians Kinza Johnson and Perjae Major went down 6-0, 6-1 to Dharani Niroshan and Gabriela Singer.

On the boys' side, Bahamian Donte Armbrister and Mexican Santiago Diaz Tolivia lost 6-3, 6-1 to the No.4 seeded team of Max Hartenstein from Germany and Nikolas Tvedt from Norway; Bahamian Kofi Jyles Bowe and Italian David Polo lost 6-4, 6-0 to American Arun Venkat Guruswamy and Bahamian Jacobi Bain and Alejandro Jose Gandini from Dominican lost 1-6, 6-1 (12-10) to the American No.3 team of Leighton Allen and Harrison Gold.

The top seeded team of Alexandre LeBlanc of Canada and Adam Neff from the USA won 6-0, 6-1 over Francisco Tomas Geschwind from Argentina and Christian Felipe Winstead from Costa Rica and No.2 seeds Russell Berdusco and Quinn McLeod, both from the USA, won 6-1, 6-3 over Alexandru Flip Bucurescu from Romonia and Hideki Matsuoka from Japan.

Today when the action starts at 9am, in addition to Clarke taking on Niroshan in the girls' singles, No.8 seed Donte Armbrister will play his quarter-final match on the boys' side against American Jack Anthrop.

In doubles later in the day, Clarke will be back teaming up with American Kriti Williams as the No.1 seed on the girls' side against Niroshan and Singer, while the Simms sisters, Abigail and Gabrielle, will take on No.3 seeds Zoe Hitt from the USA and Aleska Marquez of Peru.