Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Lopes dominant, Lowden/Kalekyezi on a roll in GBTI Open Tennis
The feature match last Wednesday evening turned out to be a one sided and ill-tempered affair between Daniel Lopes and Benjettan Osborne when play
Omar Persaud (left) and Godfrey Lowden
continued in the GBTI Open Tennis Championships. Lopes was simply too dominant and played some of his best tennis as he cut down on unforced errors significantly and kept the potential challenge of Osborne at bay as he skillfully kept his opponent off balanced and unable to launch an attack by moving the ball around the court. A visibly perturbed and frustrated Osborne repeatedly questioned line calls and was only able to save 6-0 in the second set when he dug deep and won a game to be 5-1 before Lopes served out the set. Lopes has advanced to the finals where he will face top seed Anthony Downes.
Lowden on a roll
Godfrey Lowden campaigning in the Over 45 categories proved to be good in his matches as he registered comprehensive wins in his singles and doubles matches. In his semi-final match against Rudy Grant his fast paced style of game allowed for him to put away Grant 6-3 6-1 after Grant was able to mount an early challenge. The old rivalry has been more one sided to Lowden in recent years as Grant now plays sparingly and is less mobile. In Men’s Over 45 Doubles action, Lowden partnered with Omar Persaud and encountered stiff resistance from American Albert Razick and Steve Surujbally who took the first set 7-6 in the tiebreak before the match changed and they won only one more game before the team retired facing a 4-0 deficit in the final set. Final scores in the match were 6-7 6-1 4-0 (retired).
Other entertaining matches were when an injured Heimraj Resaul was able to hold off the challenge of talented but inconsistent junior Khalid Gobin 6-2 7-6 in the Boys Quarters as the pair played excellent tennis. An injured Resaul had to subsequently forfeit his remaining matches to allow Joshua Kalekyezi, who first defeated Nigel Lowe at 6-1 6-0 and unexpectedly upended top ranked Mark McDonald in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 to book his first GBTI Boys Final against Jordan Beaton.
Daniel Lopes
Joshua Kalekyezi
In the Men’s Open Doubles semis, the new pairing of Mark McDonald and Andre Erskine gave top seeds Anthony Downes/Jason Andrews a challenge as they took the second set 6-3 before going down in three sets as the top seeds restored order with a 6-2 final set after having a similarly dominant 6-1 first set. Leyland Leacock/Daniel Lopes also easily defeated Nicholas Glasgow/Joseph DeJonge 6-2, 6-1 to book their place in the semis.
A keenly contested Ladies Singles match was cut short when Cristy Campbell could not overcome progressive muscular cramps and retired in the third set to Kalyca Fraser 3-6 6-3 1-0.
Mixed Doubles Quarters action saw Ciara Pooran/Nicholas Glasgow defeating the pair of GLTA executives Grace McCalman/Jamal Goodluck 6-3 , 6-1 but the two subsequently gave Daniel Lopes/Sarah Klautky a w/o in the semis to reach the Finals.
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