The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Bahamians Sydney Clarke and Sierra Donaldson joined Puerto Rican Rafael Grovas in pulling off the three biggest upsets so far as the main draw of the Goombay Splash Bowl completed its second day of competition at National Tennis Centre yesterday.

Clarke and Donaldson were the only two other Bahamians to advance on day two, joining Monday’s winner Iesha Shepherd.

In the longest match of the day, Donaldson out-lasted Aleksa Marquez from Peru for a marathon 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4 decision on court four.

Playing on centre court, Clarke secured an impressive identical 6-4, 6-4 win over girls’ No.6 seed Sena Takebe of Japan.

“My performance was great today,” Clarke said. “I think I surprised myself with the outcome of my match because the shots that I hit in practice, they came out very good in the match.”

Throughout the match, Takebe became frustrated with herself as she had some difficulties getting in her serves and she was not effective at all with her backhand stroke.

Clarke, the 15-year-old 10th grader at CR Walker Secondary High School, said she noticed the predicament her opponent was in and she tried her best to take advantage of it.

“I realised that after a while and one of my biggest mistakes was keep hitting the ball in the middle of the court because every time I hit the ball in the middle of the court, she would end the points,” Clarke said.

“With the serves, sometimes she got some lucky serves, but not lucky because they were some good serves. But as good as her first serve was, I knew that once I kept the pressure on, she would eventually break down.”

In advancing to the second round for the first time since she started playing in the tournament for two years, Clarke looked like she was in familiar territory as she broke Takebe to go up 5-4 and then held for the first set. She came back and broke to start the second set and got another break at 4-3 and again at 6-4 for the win.

“It’s great,” said Clarke about her performance. “It’s only a couple of us left in the draw, so it’s good to move on.”

Today, Clarke will match up with American Molly Heber in the second round, while Shepherd will be in action against No.4 seed Yasemin Ada Boru, who eliminated Bahamian Sydni Kerr on Monday.

Donaldson will face No.7 seed Luisa Meyer Auf Der Heide in the other match featuring a Bahamian.

A few other Bahamians were unsuccessful in moving on.

Isabel Donaldson took an early 3-0 lead in the first set, but eventually lost 6-3, 6-1 to American Enya Forgaci and Bradley Fowler fell 6-1, 6-0 to Canadian Tiraspolsky.

Grovas, playing on centre court in the first match of the day, stunned the boys’ No.2 seed Matheus Ferreira Lette of Brazil 7-5, 6-4 in the first match of the day.

Grovas said he played above his head but, after making the adjustment to the court having only arrived here the day before, he kept going.

“The guy was a hard hitter, tall guy with a big serve,” Grovas said. “I knew all I had to do was break his serve and he will break mentally. I managed to do that.”

After winning the first set, Grovas broke Matheus as he got a code violation for hitting his racket. Grovas broke again at 5-4 and was serving at 40-30 when Lette got hit with another penalty, this time causing him a point, the game, set and match. “That shows you what could happen,” Grovas said. “They gave him a warning and then they deducted a point.”

Grovas first came here in 2010 on vacation but he said it was good for him to return and compete in such “a really good tournament with a lot of good players. I will work hard to win it.”

Grovas, 16, is slated to be back in action today when he takes on Tiraspolsky in their second round match.

Yesterday, the first round doubles got started and there were mixed results for Bahamians in action.

On the girls’ side, Elana Mackey teamed up with Karen Kobayashi of Japan to win 7-5, 6-1; Iesha Shepherd and Canadian Kristina Tiraspolsky to eliminate the Bahamian duo of Sydni Kerr and Candace Mortier 6-0, 6-0 and Sydney Clarke and Zulay Castaneda from Panama won 6-4, 6-1 over Shruti Prabhu from the United States and Laura Quezada Martinez from the Dominican Republic.

On the boys’ side, Pedro Daniel Arreaga from Guatemala and Patricio Nieto from Mexico ousted Bahamian Donte Armbrister and Nabeel Majeed Mohammed from Trinidad & Tobago 6-3, 6-5; Jacobi Bain and Ilya Tiraspolsky from Canada won 6-4, 7-6 (6) over Robert Hayden from Barbados and Nicolas Jose Prieto from Colombia 6-4, 7-6 (6); Aaron Diemer from Canada and Matheus Ferriera Lette from Brazil won 6-0, 6-2 over Bahamians Kofi Kyle Bowe and Bradley Fowler; and Rafael Grovas from Puerto Rico and Hunter Levine from the USA beat Rehab Savio Gracias from India and Bahamian Trenton Smith.