The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

AFTER five days of competition at the National Tennis Centre, six new champions were crowned for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) J30 Junkanoo Bowl Tournament.

The competition started with 22 Bahamian juniors combined against competitors from 11 different countries. Ultimately, out of 22 Bahamians there were only two remaining on the final day of competition this past Friday.

Doubles

The only Bahamians to advance to the finals were the duo of Jackson Mactaggart and Jerald Carroll.

The doubles team battled against Tommy Rainyn and double crown winner Benjamin Willwerth.

Ultimately, The Bahamas’ final remaining tennis junior players came up short against the United States of America’s doubles team in two sets 6-4, 6-0.

Carroll talked about the team’s final match and their overall experience at the ITF J30 Junkanoo Bowl tourney.

“It was good competition that we were playing. It gave me good experience and helped me to get better with my doubles partner so it was just fun in general,” he said.

The doubles player added that the tournament was fun because it was good to meet new people who spoke different languages and to get exposure to other good players.

Mactaggart, Carroll’s doubles teammate, talked about how it felt to be the final remaining Bahamians in the tournament.

“It feels good, we worked hard, we got some preparation in from the nationals last week. We look forward to coming back and doing better next time,” he said.

He added that he prefers the international competition because it is a wider variety of players which helps them to prepare for other tournaments. Overall, he said it was fun and was happy about the doubles competition because tournaments do not usually have those matches.

The USA won all the other areas of competition including the girls’ doubles. The team of Natalie Oliver, who won a double crown for her singles and doubles wins, and Alexandra Wolf wrapped up Kaya Baker and Gianna Graci. In set one, the duo won 6-4. After the initial set, they solidified the championship win with 6-3 in set two.

The doubles team turned in a dominating showing all tournament. They defeated The Bahamas’ Saphirre Ferguson and Sierra Rodgers 6-0, 6-0 in round one.

In the quarterfinals, Italy’s Nicole Ballotta and the USA’s Maria Fernanda Luzuriaga suffered the same fate. In the semis, the duo once again powered through the competition, dropping Jessica McLean and Annika Warkentin of the USA 6-1,6-0.

Singles

The USA’s Oliver claimed her second victory of the day in singles action against Korea’s Dain Lee in a final that required three sets for the win.

Oliver took down Lee in the first set 7-5. However, set two was all Lee who quieted Oliver with 6-4.

Ultimately, Oliver stepped it up in the final set, running away with the win (6-1).

Similar to Oliver, the USA’s Willwerth secured his second victory of the day in a competitive final.

He came into the match as the top seed and matched up against the second-seeded Cruz Hewitt from Australia. Willwerth proved why he came in ranked as the top seed, he opened set one 6-1.

Hewitt mounted a comeback in set two of three, dropping the USA singles competitor 7-5.

However, Willwerth completed his quest to victory in the third set, winning 6-1 for the singles championship. Next up for the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s (BLTA) NTC will be the start of tennis for the Bahamas Golden Jubilee Games on Friday, July 7. Individuals are asked to come out and support the men’s singles matchups which get underway at 9am.