Aretta Dey is SVG ITF Junior Tennis Tournament Under 14 Girls Champion
Aretta Dey prevailed over her doubles partner and compatriot Nicola Ramdyhan with a 7-6 6-3 win to become Guyana’s second ever Champion at an ITF Junior tournament.
Ramdyhan had won the Girl’s Under 12 Coca Cola tournament in St Lucia in 2009.
The pair had earlier won the Girl’s 14 Doubles title.
Aretta Dey
Dey’s achievement capped a much improved performance by the Guyanese Junior team as they came away with two wins and a runner-up position in the International Event which attracted players from around the world.
Guyana’s Junior team is coached by ITF Level 2 coach Shelly Ramdyhan who has guided many juniors through the Schools Tennis Initiative programme after which talented players are pinpointed for development in the Junior squads.
In the match, Dey’s consistency ended up being the difference in the match as she capitalised on Ramdyhan’s mistakes to pull off the straight set win. The first set was tied at 6-6 but Dey convincingly won the tie-break 7-0 before then wrapping up the second set 6-3 to claim her first ever International title despite being an unseeded player.
Dey had dismissed second seed Jamie Lewis (BAR) 6-2 6-3 in the semi-finals before taking out the first seed Ramdyhan in the finals to cap a remarkable performance.
The 10 member team will return to Guyana today and will go straight into action when the Nigel’s Junior Classic tournament starts on Tuesday Aug 23.