Assuria Invitational...Top seeds to battle for Men’s Over 35 crown

Assuria Invitational…Top seeds to battle for Men’s Over 35 crown

Mar 10, 2014 Sports

In closing two weeks of high quality tennis, Godfrey Lowden and Carlos Adams would add another chapter to their list of riveting clashes when the two meet for the Men’s Over-35 title in the Assuria Invitational Classic Tennis Tournament.

Nicola Ramdyhan

The two heavyweight giants in the senior division steamrolled through the round-robin leg of the tournament with both men playing undefeated in their respective groups.
Lowden, the top Men’s 35 player in the country and the top seed in Group B, showed no mercy as he never dropped a set in his straight sets demolitions of Steve David-Longe and popular veteran player Rudy Grant.
Lowden opened his campaign with a fighting 6-2, 7-5 victory over David-Longe who is known to be a stealthy retriever on the local tennis circuit. The top seed Lowden later returned for his final round-robin against Grant, who overtime has proven to be a hand full for all the top players on the circuit.
But there was no stopping the powerful Lowden who claimed his remaining match to advance to the final, by taking a quick 6-1, 6-4 victory over Grant. David-Longe ranked second in the group since he too took out Grant in a hard fought three set victory 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.
Meanwhile, the very vocal and fancied Carlos Adams also played undefeated in Group A where he was competing against the likes of Mario Niamatalli and Harry Panday. The feisty Adams who is known for his vocal outbursts was relatively tame during his on court performance in his straight set defeat of his group A opponents.
He made a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4 victory over prudent tennis lover Harry Panday. His second outing of the tournament was more of a walk in the park for the top seed. He steamed rolled past the third seed in the group Mario Niamatalli 6-1, 6-0 to claim his place alongside Lowden. Niamatalli took second after defeating Panday in straights sets 6-1, 6-4.
The Ladies Singles category also proved its worth on the local tennis scene when girls champ Nicola Ramdyhan and Junior sensation Afruica Gentle clashed in their group. As they wowed the spectators with their hitting power, Ramdyhan kept her calm to avoid falling prey to Afruica Gentle who spared no moment blasting from the baseline.
Ramdyhan eventually eked out a close win at 7-6, 6-4. Berbician veteran champ Carol Humphrey who recently recovered from knee injury also fell prey to the 14-year-old Jamaali Homer 7-5, 6-4. But Homer was subsequently easily defeated by Ramdyhan 6-4, 6-1.
In the Men’s Singles, boys champ Gavin Lewis stunned Leyland Leacock in a grueling three-setter 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 that took a great toll on both players. Leacock who is a seasoned player and Assistant National Coach seemed to be in control initially with his flawless placement of the ball but it was the stamina and power of Lewis that ended up being his demise. In the other match Daniel Lopes defeated Khalif Gobin 6-0, 6-3.
This week’s matches will conclude the tournament starting at 5:30pm tomorrow where it will feature the most anticipated match of the tournament with top boys Daniel Lopes and Gavin Lewis playing each other possibly to determine the winner in that category. After that match Leyland Leacock will play Khalif Gobin.
On Wednesday, in Ladies Singles play, Afruica Gentle will take on Jamaali Homer and in Men’s Singles play, Gavin Lewis comes up against Khalif Gobin. Friday’s match will be the sole Men’s Over-35 final encounter with Carlos Adams opposing Godfrey Lowden and the Men’s Singles game between Daniel Lopes and Leyland Leacock.