The Real Equity Open Tennis Championship got under way last Saturday at Liguanea Club in New Kingston, and will continue each day until Saturday, December 13.

On the weekend, several matches were played and featured both amateurs and professionals.

Among the players were Bradley Chen See, Stefan Serju, Maxeline Knuckles, Bruce Hart, Jaedon Lawe, Rupert Conally, Andre Spence, Chevaughn Crawford, Dr Gavin Hall, Nancy Pinchas, Stephen McConnell, Daniel Benjamin, Stuart Allen, Latoya Facey, Ruddy Armstrong, Andrew Folkes, Jairdan Gibbs, Craig Thomas, Bradley Nembhard, and Bradley Delapenha.

Matches played include Men’s Open, Men’s Class 2 and 3 and Ladies B.

Weekday matches are to kick off at 5:00 pm and go until 9:00 pm. On Thursday, the quarter-finals will take place, with the semi-finals on Friday and the grand finals on Saturday starting at 4:00 pm.

Following the grand finals, there will be a presentation to winners and runners-up.

Delapenha, the grandson of the late sports journalist and football player Lindbergh “Lindy” Delapenha, was the winner of the final Men’s Class 3 match on Sunday. He went up against Jaedon Lawe.

“It felt very good to have won my game. I’ve been doing everything I can to improve, and I feel pretty good,” Delapenha told the Jamaica Observer, post-match.

Delapenha, who has been playing tennis since his days at Jamaica College, has been involved in the sport professionally for the past five years.

He said the Real Equity Open Tennis Championship plays a significant role in the development of tennis locally.

“Tournaments like these are very important and I feel like our presidents, John Azar (Tennis Jamaica) and Llockett McGregor (Liguanea Club), they’ve done their best to bring tennis back to life since COVID. So being able to come, look forward, train and prepare, you feel like you’ve been included in all of it. Tennis is here to stay and I hope it continues to grow further and further,” Delapenha reasoned.

Tournament director Llockett McGregor of Liquanea Club shared that the tournament has been going well since.

“It has been going very smoothly and we are on schedule. We started on time and all the matches were played. As usual you may have a few no shows, but not a lot,” said McGregor.

He continued: “This is a tournament that serves the entire community of tennis, in terms of amateurs and professionals. Saturday is our grand finals and its going to be a very exciting day full of tennis.”