Johnson, Stephens capture Hi-Pro tennis titles
TOP seeds Damion Johnson and Michaela Stephens captured the men’s and women’s singles title, respectively, at the 2016 Hi-Pro All Jamaica Tennis Championships that ended at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre on Sunday.
Johnson regained his title which he lost to Rowland ‘Randy’ Phillips last year in a tough two-setter against second seed Dwayne Pagon, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker), 6-4. The match lasted one hour and 53 minutes.
The victory was Johnson’s fourth in the last five years, which makes him the number one player in Jamaica, while Pagon was losing another hard-fought clash with his conqueror for the past three years.
Meanwhile, Stephens rushed past unseeded Pauline Hylton in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, that lasted only one hour. The 13-year-old Stephens was winning the women’s title for the second straight year.
Hylton was playing in the All-Jamaica for the first time and found the going tough against the better plays from Stephens.
Johnson conceded “it was a tough match”, and paid credit to Pagon for pushing him.
“I was done at 1-4 in the second set, but I stayed in the game and gave it my all and took time in selecting my shots,” Johnson said.
“I dug very deep, broke him twice and made sure I held my serves.”
Pagon, on the other hand, rued aspects of his game.
“With my lead in the second set at 4-1, I dropped my level while Johnson picked up his game nicely and he got the better of me in the end,” he said.
Pagon said he is looking towards facing Johnson in next month’s Swept Away tournament in Montego Bay, and he has hinted at revenge.
Stephens, who won the women’s title, said she was always confident of victory.
“I was always confident of winning and did it so easily… it was a good win for me, despite not being exciting. My aim was to play an attacking game and it worked,” she said.
Hylton, meantime, thought she lost the game because “I gave up too easily as my first serves were not working”.
Meanwhile, the Men’s doubles event was won by the top pair of Pagon and Matthew Rodriques over the second seeded pair of Jeremy Miller and Cliff Dwyer 6-4, 3-2.
Stephens and Jenna Harrison captured the Women’s doubles title with a 10-5 win over the pair of Hylton and Gina Delisser.
