The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE International Tennis Federation’s Goombay Splash Bowl got started on Monday at the National Tennis Center with five Bahamians advancing to second round of the main draw singles.

On the boys’ side of the week-long tournament for junior players around the world, Jacobi Bain pulled of an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win over Shoichiryu Kozuki from Japan. Bain will now on to play the top seed Alexander Kiefer from the United States on Wednesday.

In two other boys’ matches played with Bahamian players, Kofi Bowe suffered a 6-1, 6-1 loss to American Connor Krug, while O’Neil Mortimer lost 6-2, 6-2 to American Dylan Breslaw.

No.3 seed Joshua Lapadat of Canada won 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 over Jakub Svoboda from the Czech Republic; No.5 seed Iiya Tiraspolsky from Canada won 6-1, 6-1 over George Bader of Puerto Rico and No.7 seed Sasha Pachnev of Canada won 6-4, 7-6 (2) over Jinge Yang from China.

However, No.6 seed Quinn McLeod from the USA got upset by Christopher Heck from Canada, who won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

On the girls’ side, No.8 seed Sierra Donaldson won 6-2, 6-1 over Siran Ravichandran from Canada; Elana Mackey won 6-3, 6-0 over American Shave Longwell; Isabel Donaldson won 6-3, 6-4 over Anya King from Trinidad & Tobago and Hanna-Joy Simms won 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 over Narela Burigotto of Argentina.

The only Bahamian female to lose on day one of the main draw was Abigail Simms, who lost 6-2, 6-4 to American Kennedy Bridgforth.

American Nicole Kiefer was the only other seeded player to win. She beat Italian Giulia Tatini 6-0, 6-1. There was one upset with No.2 seed Madison Kim from the USA getting knocked out by Dagmar Zdrubecka of the Czech Republic. Zdrubecka won 6-3, 6-4.

Three more Bahamians will be playing their first round single matches today, starting at 9 am.

Sydney Clarke, seeded number four, will play her match against Canadian Shirley Liang on court two, while Afrika Smith, seeded No.5, will play against Patricia Martinez Molina from Spain on court one.

Immediately following Clarke’s match, Donte Armbrister, seeded No.8, will play his match against Canadian Andy Zhu.

Most of the action today will be geared towards doubles with a number of Bahamians in action.

Clarke and Elana Mackey will team up and play their first round match against the Canadian duo of Liang and Simran Ravichandran and Smith is teaming up with American Shaye Longwell and they will play their first round match against the team of Yao Chen of China and Canadian Kristina Tiraspolsky.

Also, Sierra Donaldson will play with American Elan Mnatsakanov as they face the team of Narela Burigotto and Canadian Genevieve Quenville and Isabel Donaldson and American Nicole Kiefer will play against Abigail Simms and American Quinn McLeon, the No.4 seeds.

On the boys’ side, Donte Armbrister and O’Neal Mortimer will team up to play against Jacobi Bain and his Canadian partner Christopher Heck.