The Tribune

THE Bahamas’ Junior Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams performed brilliantly at the Billie Jean King Cup/Junior Davis Cup North, Central American and the Caribbean Pre- Qualifying Tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, yesterday.

Yesterday, both teams advanced to the semifinals after knocking off Costa Rica but only the Junior Davis Cup team booked a ticket to today’s final.

BOYS

Team Bahamas faced a tough challenge against the top seed Guatemala in the semifinals.

Jerald Carroll was up first in the number two singles position and won comfortably in straight sets 6-1,6-3.

William McCartney, who played in the number one singles position, fought hard but lost to Guatemala 2-6, 0-6. The teams were locked at 1-1 but the duo of Jackson Mactaggart and Carroll threw the final blow to secure a spot for The Bahamas in the finals. The tandem prevailed 6-4, 6-4 in the tightly contested doubles match.

Spencer Newman, coach of the junior boys, spoke about the team’s mindset going into today’s finals.

“Jerald has been playing lights out all week and was able to do so again in the afternoon. That takes a lot of pressure off our other players in matches and we hope to see that continue on going into tomorrow’s finals match. It was nice to see the boys compete in the doubles where we won 6-4, 6-4 in the deciding match to send us into the finals.

“The boys are doing a great job with their focus, their effort and their attitude. Going into the finals we are going to be focusing again on those three things - focus, attitude and effort - and willingness and ability to compete and finding ways to win. We feel good about our level and our games. The boys are sharp and ready to go,” Newman said.

Earlier in the day, the Junior Davis Cup team took down Costa Rica 2-0 to advance to the semifinals.

GIRLS

The Junior Billie Jean King Cup team advanced to the semifinals to face Honduras after defeating Costa Rica 2-1.

Takaii Adderley was electrifying in the singles matchup where she emerged victorious 6-2, 6-0.

Tatyana Madu put up a valiant effort against Costa Rica in her singles matchup but fell 1-6, 2-6. However, the doubles team of BreAnn Ferguson and Adderley propelled the team to the semifinals with a victory in the final match. They fell 4-6 in the first set and regained their composure 7-5, 10-3.

Adderley kept the momentum going in singles action against Honduras. In a match that lasted over three hours, the top junior dropped the first set 6-7 (8) but then made a 6-1,6-2 comeback for the win.

Honduras’ Alyssa Sucrovich bested Madu 6-1, 6-1. She then teamed up with Ana Alvarado to defeat Team Bahamas.

The junior girls dropped set one 4-6 and came back 6-2 but it was all Honduras in the tiebreak set 11-9.