Tough start for TTO tennis juniors

ZARA Ghuran, Ella Carrington, and Charlotte Ready, TT’s three-member Under-14 tennis team in the Dominican Republic, opened their account at the 2019 WJT Girls North/Central America and Caribbean Pre-Qualifying tournament with a heavy 3-0 defeat to Curacao yesterday.

Ghuran was TT’s first representative on the court, and after a two-and-a-half-hour battle with Kai Karel, went under 5-7, 3-6, for Curacao to gain an early advantage.

TT would have needed to reverse the result in the second singles match in order to stand a chance at an opening-day victory. However, TT’s next athlete in line, Ella Carrington, also went under against her Curacaoan opponent Sarah Nita. Nita won that match 6-4,6-2.

With defeat already assured, fourth-seeded TT’s next mission yesterday was to avoid a whitewash and maximise its chances of advancing out of the group and into the first to eighth play-off. However, Ghuran and Ready were also outclassed by the Dutch-speaking partnership of Nita and Sara Loaiza, who triumphed 6-2, 6-0.

El Salvador, seeded fifth, and Puerto Rico, TT’s other Group D opponent, met in yesterday’s other match. El Salvador sealed a win, which left Puerto Rico and TT at the bottom of the four-team group.

TT will need to win today against Puerto Rico to stand any realistic chance of progressing into the first-to-eighth play-offs. Finishing third or fourth will result in TT moving into the ninth-to-16th-place play-offs.

Ghuran and company will meet El Salvador, in perhaps their toughest group match, tomorrow.

Last Saturday, TT’s Under-14 boys’ trio, Saqiv Williams, Luca Shamsi and Jamal Alexis, finished their account at the

WJT Boys North/Central America and Caribbean Pre-Qualifying tournament in the Dominican Republic in seventh place.