TT tennis U-14s finish 10th in Dom Rep

ZARA Ghuran, Ella Carrington and Charlotte Ready finished in tenth place at the 2019 WJT Girls North/Central America & Caribbean Pre-Qualifying event in the Dominican Republic, on Saturday, after losing their play-off 3-0 to Curacao for the second time in the tournament.

TT opened their account in the girls’ under-14 competition last Monday against the same opponents and were similarly outclassed in both teams’ closing play-off match five days later.

Ghuran opened against Curacao’s Kai Karel in a rematch of both team’s opening fixture. While Ghuran also lost both sets in the first, she put up less of a challenge on Saturday and was soundly beaten, 0-6, 1-6.

Carrington the faced Sarah Nita in the second singles match, and was agonisingly close to a come-from-behind win and bringing TT back into the match, but she ultimately succumbed to defeat after three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 8-10.

Curacao, having already claimed the win and ninth spot in the final standings, closed in fine style with their part of Nita and Sara Loaiza completing the 3-0 win with their second doubles victory over TT. Nita and Loaiza defeated Carrington and Ready, 4-6, 1-6.

TT suffered a demoralising start to the tournament with their 3-0 defeat to Curacao, which was compounded a day later when the trio lost by the same scoreline to Puerto Rico.

They lost yet again in the third match, this time 2-1 to El Salvador, a result which saw them rooted to the bottom of the group and with only the ninth to 13th places to play for.

Carrington, Ghuran and Ready finally won their first match of the tournament in the first play-off match, breezing past the Bahamas 3-0, and carried their momentum into the follow day, when they secured a 3-0 win over Bermuda. That match ensured that TT would finish 10th at worst or ninth at best.

Only a day before their arrival in the Dominican Republic, team TT’s Jamal Alexis, Luca Shamsi and Saqiv Williams challenged the boys’ version of the qualifiers and finished seventh overall.