The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With a limited field of players in the women’s draw, top two seeds Sydney Clarke and Elana Mackey - both back home from college - made quick work of their opponents in their respective semi-final matches, advancing to today’s final of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s 2021 Giorgio Baldacci Open Nationals.

But kicking off today’s action at the National Tennis Centre at 9am, brothers Baker and Spencer Newman will clash in one half of the men’s semi-finals and veteran Marvin Rolle will square off against collegian Donte Armbrister in the other half of the draw.

While Baker Newman is the men’s top seed, Rolle is No.2, Spencer Newman is No.3 and Armbrister is No.4. All four have represented the Bahamas on the men’s team for Davis Cup where Rolle has been the longest active player and now team captain.

The top two players who advance to the championship will automatically qualify for the Davis Cup team for 2022.

By virtue of securing their berths into the final, Clarke and Mackey will be back on the Billie Jean King Cup team, formerly the Fed Cup.

Before the teams travel, the BLTA intends to hold another tournament to select the remainder of both teams.

Hopefully, some of the top players who opted not to participate in the Open Nationals this week will show up to earn the final two spots on both teams.

For Clarke, she moved one match away from defending her title after she knocked off former Billie Jean King Cup team-mate Sierra Donaldson 6-1, 6-1. It was Clarke’s first match of the tournament after she was awarded a bye in the first round. “I set goals. I had some plans and I think I executed them very well,” said Clarke, who returned home from the University of Alabama at Birmingham to provide a charitable food give-away for the Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel on Saturday. “I felt my execution was good. I was a little bit flat at times, but I got a chance to redeem myself.”

Clarke, 20, was referring to Donaldson, who broke her in the first set for a 4-1 deficit and to start the second set.

“Those moments, I had a lot of them, so I would have been really disappointed if I didn’t pull through,” she said. “I just knew I had to take my time and regroup and I would eventually win it.”

If she can execute the way she did and remain focused mentally, Clarke said she is confident that she can prevail again when she takes on Mackey at 10:30am.

“I wished a lot more of the girls would have showed up, but they didn’t so I just did what I had to do,” she said.

“Hopefully more of them will show up next year and the draw will be a lot better.”

Back home from college at Mars Hill where she’s juggling her time with tennis and running distance races on the track and in cross country for the Lions, Mackey showed that she was in peak form as she swept aside youthful Sapphire Ferguson 6-1, 6-0.

“I got off to a slow start and the wind played a factor with a lot of my balls going out, but as the match progressed, I started hitting the ball more and my shots were landing in,” Mackey said.

After Ferguson held serve for a 1-1, tie, Mackey was unbeatable the rest of the match. But she admitted that she will have to bring her A game when she meets Clarke in today’s finale.

“I just need to be more confident in some of my shots,” Mackey said. “I wished we had players like Kerrie (Cartwright) and Simone (Pratt) so the tournament could have been more competitive and I would have gotten more matches in.”

Although she played about four tournaments before she came home, Mackey said when she returns on January 19, her season will swing into full gear and she will have to be prepared for the challenge ahead of her when they start on February 12.

“They have a schedule for me where I would run in the morning and practice tennis in the afternoon when we don’t have any competition,” Mackey said. “So its been going good so far for me.”

Brothers prevail

On one court, Baker Newman had to battle it out with Rodney Carey Jr for a 6-3, 6-1 victory and on the other, Spencer Newman pulled off a 6-0, 6-1 decision over rising young star Michael Major Jr,

Baker Newman had to rally from a 3-1 deficit after Carey Jr broke him. But once he got into a groove, he managed to complete the set without any problems, even though they had to play some long volleys.

In the second set, Carey Jr held serve for the first point, but Newman stormed back and pulled off the final six points.

“He was pretty well. He played a good four-five points in that first set. The conditions were tough out here today,” Newman said. “I just kicked it in gear in my mind and in my head. I just said let’s go. I knew I could do it because I’ve been playing and practicing a lot coming here.”

With some of the top players not entered, Newman said he now finds himself facing Spencer Newman in another brother match-up in today’s semifinals.

“It’s always unfortunate to be on the opposite side, but we didn’t expect it to be in the semifinal. We would like for it to be in the final,” said Newman who, at 26, is two years older than Spencer, who is 28.

If there’s any consolation, in the three matches they played against each other, Baker Newman won twice. But he’s hoping to avenge his only loss at 7-6 in their last encounter. The two brothers are now situated in Delray Beach, Florida, where they train with each other.

In his match against Major Jr, Spencer Newman won 6-0, 6-1. After getting blanked in the first set, Major Jr held serve for a 2-1 deficit in the second set. But Newman went on a surge to close out the match.

“I played really well. He applied a lot of pressure. He’s one of our up and coming young guys who is hitting the ball,” Newman pointed out.

“But it was good to get out there and pretty much dictate the match.”

Faced against his brother in another epic match, Newman said he’s anticipating an all out war today.

“I’ve never had to play my brother here in the semis and that is only because some of the other top players are not here,” he said.

“But big dog or not, the level is just as high as ever playing my brother again. We’ll see how it goes this time around.”

Waiting to see who will emerge in the final will be Rolle and Armbrister when they face off in the other semis. Rolle whitewashed Shavano Hanna 6-0, 6-0 and Armbrister got by Denali Nottage 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in their quarter-final matches.