Bascome & Manders To Meet In Tennis Finals
Top seeds Jenson Bascome and Gavin Manders are Saturday’s finalists in the Men’s Open Singles in the Bermuda Clay Court Championships at Coral Beach & Tennis Club, but they had to work to get there.
Top seed Bascome overcame a spirited challenge from unseeded James Finnigan who forced a tiebreaker in the second set before Bascome walked off a 6-2 7-6 winner.
Manders, seeded second, defeated fourth seed and Coral Beach lead pro Neal Towlson 6-4 6-4 to set up what is likely to be a hard fought battle in what has become a fierce rivalry at the top of Bermuda tennis.
The match starts at 10am at Coral Beach Club.
In other matches, Erika Bove swept past Imani Brooks 6-0 6-0 in a match which seems likely to set up a decisive final round robin match on Saturday with Ashley Brooks, who is undefeated. Jacklyn Lambert is also in the hunt as she defeated Kim Burns 6-2 6-1.
The Men’s and Women’s Open Winners will each walk away with cheques for $2,000 courtesy of sponsor Moet & Chandon in what is the biggest prize money seen in Bermuda tennis in many years. The runners-up will each receive $500.
Today sees another full slate of matches, with Finnigan and Dean Mello teaming up in the Men’s Open doubles to take on Bascome and Towlson, while Manders and Jovan Whitter will face off against Romar Douglas and Nicholas Thuell.
In the deciding match of the Women’s Open Doubles, Bove and Jill Finnigan take on Brookes and Phillips.
And in one of the most popular events in the tournament – the Mixed Century Doubles, in which the players’ combined ages must exceed 100 years – David Benevides and Janet Burke Green take on James Keyes and Lee Petty for the right to meet Michael and Kelly Way in the final on Saturday.
