VERNON Lewis, Sirsean Allain, Ron Blanchard, Glenton Evans, Jean Phillipe Murray, Adriel Bousquet, Kieran President, Stacey Roheman, Julia D’Auvergne and the siblings Maxx and Meggan Williams are a few tennis players who of late dominated the sport at the National Tennis Centre (NTC
This past week the best young and aspiring tennis players did just that when Alysa Elliot and Joey Angeloni emerged Men and Ladies Singles champions of the Independence Day Tennis Classic for 2020, the weeklong: Tennis Classic which was organized by the Saint Lucia National Tennis Association (SLNTA), took place at the NTC located in Beausejour giving rise to two new champions.
In the Ladies final, Alysa Elliot a student of St. Joseph’s Convent defeated Netanya Faissal who is currently at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in straight sets 6 – 0, 6 – 0.
In the Men’s Open final, Joey Angeloni a student of St. Mary’s College had to pull out all stops in the first set against a more experience player, Ron Blanchard, defeating him 7-5; with his momentum and energy level at an all-time high, Angeloni made light work of Blanchard in the second set defeating him 6-1.
Speaking at the closing and prize giving ceremony, SLNTA President, Stephen McNamara congratulated all the participants for making this year’s IDTC a huge success, he also took the time out to congratulate Hamlet Phillip who recently won the Arthur Ashe Multi Cultural award in the USA for all his work he has done for Tennis.
McNamara said, “This year’s tournament has been sponsored by LUCELEC and Digicel. The next tournament, which is the Easter Tennis Classic, we have thankfully found a sponsor in Real Food Inc and hopefully they will sponsor it not only this year but in years going forward”.
He continued, “In terms of sponsorship and upcoming Tournaments for 2020, we have the Coca Cola tournament in August which is in two halves: Sagicor is sponsoring one part and the second part, the seniors, is being sponsored by TOGS and hopefully they will sponsor it as the years go by. We are looking for one more additional sponsor to take care of the second half of that tournament which will round that off before too long so those two tournaments will be in the bag”.
The SLNTA President took a time out to thank the Parents Tennis Association (PTA) for their hard work throughout the Independence Day Tennis Classic including the inaugural Tennis Awards held last month and the 80 plus participants for taking part in this year’s IDTC.
Final results and awards presented to the various winners on the night; in the Boys Under 18, Angeloni defeated Arden Rosemond and in the Girls 18 and Under, Aviona Edmund beat Iyana Paul 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.
Boys 16 and Under, Petterson George defeated Arden Rosemond. In the Girls 16 and Under, Alysa Elliot breeze past Iyana Paul 6-2, 6-1.
In the Boys 14 and Under, Jonas Sylvester emerged champion over Brandon Eugene; while in the Girls division, Alysa Elliot had the better of Latoya Murray 6-1, 6-0.
Boys 12 and Under, Ahlil Cyril defeated Nathaniel Charles to take home the 2020 championship; while in an all sibling derby, Amara Jn Marie made light work of Amir Jn Marie 6-0, 6-1.
In the Green Ball contest, Ahlil Cyril took home his second championship title defeating Jaelyn Henry 5-3, 4-2; in the Orange Ball showdown, Amdretti George defeated Sanjay Lake 6-2; while in the Red Ball contest, Reggie Weeks defeated Axel George 10-6.
For the Orange Ball Doubles, Sanjay Lake and Jordan Bishamber defeated Samuella Bertrand and Nathan Remy 7-5; for the Green Ball Championship, Sanjay Lake and Ahlil Cyril defeated Jaelyn Henry and Amir Jn Marie 1-4, 4-2, 10-5; Orange Consolation, Christian Sidonie defeated Samuella Bertrand 4-1.
In the Mixed Doubles, Ajaunie Scott and Ronel Blanchard defeated 5-3, 4-1, while in the Men’s Open, Hamlet Phillip and Ron Blanchard defeated Thaddeus Emile and Petterson George 4-2, 4-2.
