The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

It was a difficult outing for Bahamian players yesterday in the Under-18 Main Draw of the 16th Annual International Tennis Federation’s Junkanoo Bowl hosted by the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association.

Each of the Bahamians featured in six matches were ousted in the opening round at the National Tennis Centre.

In the first match of the day of the boys’ draw, wild card Kofi Bowe was defeated by Charles Dossetter of Australia, 6-1, 6-3. Trenton Smith, who also gained entry to the main draw as a wild card, fell 6-0, 6-3 to Jeronimo Olive of Mexico.

In the girls’ draw, Bahamians suffered four losses to a quartet of Americans.

Iesha Shepherd (WC) rallied in the second set but ultimately lost 6-2, 7-5 to Nina Gulbransen, Afrika Smith (WC) lost 6-2, 6-3 to Savannah Williams, Sierra Donaldson fell 6-0, 6-1 to Kylie Collins and Sydni Kerr lost to Isabella Sophia Gomez 6-1, 6-1.

As both draws continue today, the remaining Bahamians on both sides look to turn the tables on their American counterparts.

O’Neal Armbrister will take on James Tracy while Donte Armbrister will take on No.8 seed Roger Lyn. On the girls’ side, Sydney Clarke will face Isabella Barrera Aguirre and Isabel Donaldson will take on No.2 seed Jenna Dean.

Doubles play will also get underway today. In a cross-Bahamian matchup, Armbrister and Javier Flores of Uruguay will face Mortimer and Ayato Arakaki of Japan.

Bowe and Trenton Smith will team up to face Dossetter and Olive. Sierra Donaldson and Afrika Smith will face the No.4 ranked team of Americans Collins and Angelica Blake.

Elena Mackey will team up with Elan Mnatsakanov of the United States against American pair Maxi Duncan and Gulbransen.

Kerr and Julia Ramos of Australia will play Macey and Skyler Miller of the United States.

The event features top juniors from over 30 countries including Germany, United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, France, Russia and Guatemala just to name a few.

Under-14 play in both categories also began yesterday.

The tournament promises to be one to be remembered as it is celebrating 16 years in The Bahamas. The 32-draw tournament has a plethora of entrants and there will be over 100 international tennis players taking to the court over the course of the next week.

Mickey Williams, the ITF supervisor, will continue to be the head referee and has been very instrumental in organising the tournament. Considered one of the most knowledgeable local figures on the rules and regulations of international tournament play, he has been key to the past successes of the international tournaments hosted in The Bahamas.