Jamaica’s top tennis player Blaise Bicknell produced an excellent performance to outclass Japanese Kousuke Ogura and move into the second round of the Jamaica ITF M15 Challenge Championship at Eric Bell Tennis Centre on Tuesday.

Bicknell, who is ranked 309th in the world, blew away Kousuke 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour in a one-sided encounter .

Bicknell got off to a shaky start as he battled with the Japanese to a 3-3 tie midway the first set. However, the big Jamaican broke Kousuke twice in the set before pulling away for an easy first set win.

The 22-year-old Bicknell come out firing on all cylinders in the second set as he broke his opponent to take a 4-1 lead in the match. Kousuke reduced the deficit at 2-5 before Bicknell went onto wrap up the victory.

Bicknell said he was very happy with his performance and he is now looking forward to even playing much better in the next round of the competition.

“This victory is good for my confidence because I feel good to get the win and so I am going to rest up and get ready for the next [match] on Thursday,” Bicknell said.

Reflecting on his performance against 706th-ranked Kousuke Bicknell added: “The first set I was a bit slow back and forth as the match was tied at 3-3 and then I played a good return game and then I won 6-3. I just played solid throughout the whole second set, using my serve and forehand a lot, which are my weapons and so I am just happy that I am through to the next round.”

In the day’s other matches, Miles Jones of the United States beat his compatriot Ezekiel Clark 6-3, 6-3; Andrew Fenty from the United States defeated Emmanuel Munoz from Dominica 6-3, 6-0; and Alex Jones went down 3-6, 5-7 to Ryan Fishback also from the US.

On Wednesday, Jamaica’s Daniel Azar is to take on Japan’s Shu Matsuoka, and John Chin of Jamaica is to oppose Kiranpal Pannu of New Zealand.