Day #4: Tennis Tournament In Santo Domingo
Competition in the JITIC 2013 Tennis Tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic continued with second round play on Tuesday [Aug 6], with Bermuda’s tennis juniors in action.
The second round is where it ended for Billy Boyle in the Main Draw. Boyle’s opponent was Jose Olivares of the Dominican Republic. The two faced off earlier this year in the pre-qualifying of the Junior Davis Cup, held in El Salvador.
Boyle looked to be in the zone in the first couple of games as they both held serve comfortably. The match continued with some good exchanges, however the score line would not reflect this. It wasn’t long before the first set was in the pocket of the Dominican at 6-1. The lanky Dominican moved around the court with grace and had good touch that enabled him to absorb the power of the smaller Bermudian.
Boyle continued to go for his shots and had good measure of a number angled drives that got past his opponent, the problem was his opponent had more power of his own to go along with his excellent defense. The second set was as comfortable as the first for Olivares as he won the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Over at the Claro courts, Courtland Boyle had his singles play halted by Jorge Ortiz Garcia. The Puerto Rican made a quick start and then maintained control of the match to continue in the Main Draws back draw section. The score was 4-0, 5-3 using the short sets format.
In the other singles match Nicolas Lines continues his show of resilience, winning in another three setter. Lines opponent was Nicholas Every of Curacao. After dropping the first set at love, he bounced back to take a 4-1 second set lead. The third set reached 4 games all and thus brought on the deciding 7 point tie break. It was evidently a tense situation as Lines claimed victory 11 – 9.
In Doubles play, delayed by one day due to the rain, Courtland and Billy Boyle took on Nabil Muhammed and Gian Luc Robinson of Trinidad and Tobago.
This proved to be more work that the Bermudians planned. Bermuda jumped out to a 3 – 1 lead only to see it evaporate in no time at all. They lost the first set 6 – 4. Now things got serious. The second set was just as close but once Bermuda got the lead this time, it was maintained. We won the second set 6 – 3. Another quick start saw the Bermuda duo up 4 – 1 in the 10 point match tie break.
Unfortunately things got a little shaky again and soon it was 6 points apiece. Bermuda again got a crucial break and then were ahead 8 – 7. This was enough to shake off the nerves as the Boyle’s claimed the match tie break by 10 – 7.
In the Under 16′s Lines is the lone player left in the Singles event, while the Boyles are left to concentrate on their doubles matches.
