The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE journey through the Goombay Splash Bowl came to an end in the girls’ quarter-finals for Sydney Clarke, but it continues in the final of the boys’ doubles for Jacobi Bain and his Canadian partner Ily Tiraspolsky today at the National Tennis Centre.

Clarke, the 15-year-old 10th grader at CR Walker Secondary High, suffered a tough 6-4, 6-4 loss to top seed Laura Lissette Quezada Martinez of the Dominican Republic yesterday (Thanksgiving Day).

She was the lone Bahamian left in the main draw of singles in the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s weeklong junior tournament that featured some of the best players from around the world after both Iesha Shepherd and Sierra Donaldson were ousted in the second round on Wednesday.

“The match was great. There were some disputes, but after all, it was a good match,” said Clarke about both players getting frustrated with each other on calling one or shots long or outside against each other.

“I felt I played great. I felt I could do more, but today I just gave what I could.”

It was a rematch between the two players since they first faced each other in the under-12 division and once again Martinez came out on top.

“She’s a good player. She’s very aggressive, so she played better than me today,” Clarke said. “I felt I just needed to work on my net play and keeping the ball deep over the net.

“When I had chances to win the points, I made some mistakes.”

Martinez, with a ITF junior raking of 496, got a break to go up 3-1 in the first set and watched as Clarke came back to take advantage of her opponent’s difficulties with her serve to break for a 3-2 deficit.

Instead of keeping the pressure on, Clarke was broken again and even though Martinez still struggled at the service line, she held to take a commanding 5-2 lead.

Clarke, ranked at 1457, would then hold serve and break to cut the deficit to 5-4, but was broken again by Martinez as she secured the first set.

In the second set, Clarke got the early break to take a 2-1 lead. But Martinez bounced right back for the break for the 2-2 tie. After they both held serve at 3-3, Clarke broke to go up 3-2 as Martinez argued a call Clarke had called out.

In response, 16-year-old Martinez broke to even the score at 4-4 on a call that Clarke had objected too. But that gave Martinez the momentum as she went on to hold serve and then break Clarke to pull of the win.

“It was pretty good,” said Martinez about her victory. “We played a long time ago and she has really improved. I’m impressed. She played very well. I played my best and she was right there.”

Martinez, who at one point had asked the referee to quiet a small cheering section for Clarke, pumped her fist after she made a spectacular play to counteract the dispute.

“Sometimes they got to me, but I had to let it go and continue playing,” Martinez insisted.

Martinez is now into today’s semifinal and she said her aim to “win and take the title home.” She will take on Boru at 9 am for the rights to play the winner of the other half of the draw between Evelyne Christelle Atticia Tiron from Romania and No.2 Lillian Gabrielsen from Norway.

Also today, Bain and Tiraspolsky will attempt to win the boys’ doubles title. The duo advanced to the final yesterday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Canadian Aaron Diemer and Brazilian Matheus Ferreira Lette 6-4, 6-2.

On Wednesday, Donaldson lost to Luisa Meyer Auf Der Heide from Germany 6-1, 6-0, while Shepherd went down to No.4 seed Yasemin Ada Boru from Turkey 6-4, 6-2.

“It’s good to be back home. I came here to try and adjust to the hard court and do my thing,” Shepherd said. “I played good in my first round, but then in the second round, I just didn’t play to my ability.”

With this being her last year as a junior, Shepherd said she would be heading to Florida next week for a college showcase to see if she can get one of the offers she has already received.

“I would like to go to one of the schools in Florida because of the weather conditions,” she said. “I would prefer the University of Miami or Florida State because they have a high level of tennis and they are athletically suited to my major in accounting.”

Although she lost, Shepherd said she still have to hold her head high and give God thanks because this is another learning experience for her as she prepare to go on the pro circuit next year as well.

“It comes and it goes, so you have to take your wins with your losses,” she insisted.