Dwyer, Harrison top Open Junior Tennis Championships
Cliff Dwyer and Jenna Harrison captured the Boys’ and Girls Under-18 Open singles titles, respectively, at the 2017 Liguanea Club Open Junior Tennis Championships at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston on Sunday.
Dwyer, a 17-year-old student of Victory Academy, narrowly defeated Damani Cain 6-3, 5-7, 14-12 (super-tie-breaker) in the final that lasted over two hours.
In what was a evenly contested game, top seed Dwyer captured the first set before second seed Cain took the second set to level the match at 1-1. The match was eventually decided by the super tiebreaker set that saw both players executing some fine shots, especially to the deep corner of the court.
Cain had a glorious opportunity to clinch the match, as he was on set point, but hit the return into the net. Dwyer managed to survive the pressure and capitalised with a forearm shot into the deep corner to take the crown.
Dwyer was elated with his victory in what he described as a very hard-fought match.
“I am very happy to have come out victoriously as the super tiebreaker was well fought between both of us,’ Dwyer told the
Jamaica Observer.
Meanwhile, top seed Harrison of Campion College easily defeated third seed Emma Dibbs from St Andrew High School For Girls in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, to win the Girls’ Open singles crown.
Third-seeded Tariq Simons of Cornwall College upset top seed Ryan Cox of Campion, 7-5, 7-5, to win the Boys’ Under-16 singles title, while the Boys’ Under-14 singles title was won by Keyondre Clarke of Campion College who defeated Cole McNair, also of Campion, 6-1, 2-6 10-3 in super tiebreaker set.
Eight-year-old and second seed Alyssa James of Hillel Academy captured the Girls Under-14 singles title by defeating the unseeded Nia Scott 6-2, 6-2 in the final, while the Boys’ Under-12 title was won by Arjan Trehan of Campion College, who beat Jairdan Gibbs of Ocho Rios 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker), 4-6, 10-7 in the super tiebreaker set.
Tournament organiser, Llockett McGregor was very pleased with the success of the highly competitive competition.
“The players produced some exciting plays and many of the matches were really competitive throughout the two-day championships,” McGregor said.
