The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s (BLTA) Senior Nationals saw champions crowned after three days of competition ended yesterday.

Over the holiday weekend, singles and doubles matchups got underway at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) for both men and women. They competed in categories including the men and women’s 35, and men’s 55 in the singles division.

Additionally, the doubles matchups featured the men and women’s 35 in action on the tennis courts.

Alexander Murbach had quite the weekend at the NTC after he came away as a double crown champion for the second straight year.

The men’s 35 competitor earned his first championship hardware in singles action against Shaun Mahelis. He came away with a relatively comfortable win in two sets. The initial set was won 6-2 and the following set wrapped up 6-0.

He sealed the deal of accomplishing title number two in doubles action. The two-time double crown champion partnered along with Caitlin Drake, who also earned the double crown honours, at this year’s senior nationals.

The talented tandem bested the duo of Stephen Thompson and Marion Bain in two sets. They claimed set one 6-0 and followed it up with a 6-1 win to both take home their second championship of the weekend.

Murbach was overjoyed to accomplish his latest feat but remains hungry for more tennis championships.

“It feels good. I am getting hungrier every year now and I think it is a great opportunity to come out and play some players I have not played throughout the year,” he said.

The 43-year-old is looking forward to the growth of the nationals and, despite the weather conditions, he is open to more of these challenges.

Drake nabbed her first championship against the BLTA’s Esther Newton in the women’s 35 singles division.

The newest double champion got the edge on Newton in two sets 6-0, 6-1.

The 37-year-old said it felt amazing to double up at this past weekend’s senior nationals.

“It was such a great tournament, hard matches, great points and I am just lucky I played well under these conditions,” she said.

She credited Newton for pushing her on the court but ultimately attributed her win to executing strategy.

Thompson gutted out a tough win in one of yesterday’s most challenging matchups against former professional tennis player John Antonas.

He had to work hard for his championship win in three sets. Antonas was the first to earn a victory, claiming set one 6-3 over his opponent.

In the following match, Thompson edged out a narrow 7-6 win to push for a tiebreaker. The final set culminated 10-8 favouring Thompson to wrap up the men’s 55 singles division. “It feels great to be a champion. I worked hard and it really paid off…I started off the first set a bit slow, in the second set I found out what his weaknesses were, and in the third set I noticed he was getting a bit tired so I decided to move him around,” he said.

His runner-up said he had not played in a year and does not usually compete on hard courts but he wanted to get back into competition this time around which he thoroughly enjoyed.

In doubles action, the duo of Larikah Russell and Christie Cargill defeated Bain and Kathleen Fernandez in two sets. The two wrapped up their opponents in consecutive sets 6-2, 6-3.

The dynamic between the two was quite intriguing due to Russell being Cargill’s tennis coach outside of the competition.

“This is my first tournament. I went in with a lot of nerves but she kept me calm, gave me some pointers, and just told me to have fun and that is how we won,” Cargill said.After switching from the coaching to teammate role at the 2023 senior nationals, Russell shared her experience from this past weekend.

“Our opponents today were very competitive, they had great returns, great serves but we pulled it off because my partner and I stuck together. All in all, it was good,” she said.

She added that she was very proud of her partner and helping her through the nerves to lead to the win was a great moment overall.

In the final doubles match, Johnnie Fong and his partner Alejandro Mesples emerged as victors against Eugene Gibson and Tyrone Serrao in two sets. The competitive sets ended 6-4, 6-3.

They both enjoyed the competition and said the match was fun, especially playing against an opponent they are familiar with.

The BLTA was grateful to host another successful showing of the Senior Nationals and are now looking forward to the Sheri Roberts Open in Marsh Harbour, October 21-22.