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12-y-o Rose a thorn for rivals at Globe Insurance Open
BY PAUL BURROWES, Observer writer
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Twelve-year-old Florida-based Jamaican Nia Rose clicked at the Globe Insurance Open Junior Tennis Championships on Sunday, polishing off Jamaica's top juniors to triumph in the Girls 18 and Under at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.
A smooth stroke player, strong on the forehand and alert around the courts, Rose defeated Jamaica's three top-ranked scholarship-funded girls.
With byes to the third round, Rose bounced Sicquena Sinclair 8-5, overpowered Monique Hanson 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-final, and dismantled tearful Shantal Blackwood 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Rose, who gives herself another five years to before competing at Grand Slam tournaments, said she "felt good, confident, my forehand was working really well and that helped me during my match.
"With Shantal, I served really good, my backhand was good. I played really good, she played good too, but I played a little bit better though," she added, taking the victory in stride.
Nia, whose father Phillip Rose was a former national player, will likely enter the Under-15 and Under-18 competition at the All Jamaica Junior this week where her main competitors will be the Vranov-Brown sisters Lauren, 14, and Simone, 16.
Promising Michaelann Denton was stopped in the third round by Hanson, who won 8-3.
Another rising junior Phadria Kepple lost in the semi-final to Blackwood, who won 6-0, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Donovan Crumbie topped the Boys 18 and Under, beating Phillip Bond 6-4, 6-3 in the final.
Daniel Harris was pushed the distance in the Boys 16 and Under as he stood firm to outlast Nicholas Chung's slayer Adam Henriques 6-4, 7-6 (3).
US-based Chung, a powerful stroke player with a bright future in tennis, fell to Henriques 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (4) in the semi-final.
The feisty Shellita Haughton took care of Kalise Kelly 6-3, 6-4 for the Girls 16 and Under title while Maiz Sinclair and Shadae Findley won the 14s titles.
Sinclair defeated Johvaughn Mullings 6-1, 7-6 (4) and Findley bettered Shaeann Kamika 6-2, 6-3.
Roger Lyn maintained his unbeate run in the Boys 12 and Under beating Neils Van Dam 8-0.
Tournament director Llockett McGregor hailed Globe Insurance sponsorship of the tournament, encouraging other companies to take up the cause of tennis as the local juniors need to be playing tournaments every week.
He encouraged the players ahead of the All Jamaica to play with their usual intensity to earn national points in order to represent their country at home and overseas.
Globe Insurance Company's marketing officer Nadia Mitchell said her company, involved also in rugby and track and field, sees the sponsorship as shaping character in the players for nation building.
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