Former Barbados Davis Cup player Kodi Lewis’ bid to reach the championship match of the 2019 SOL Barbados Open Tennis Nationals was denied by former St. Lucia star Akeem Gustave last night at the National Tennis Centre in Wildey.
Akeem Gustave won the men’s semifinal against Kodi Lewis during the 2019 Sol Senior National Tennis Open. (Pictures by Morissa Lindsay)
Lewis, the older brother of national number two seed Haydn Lewis, lost the men’s semifinal in straight sets of 6-4, 5-2. The second set ended prematurely at the latter score when Lewis lost his composure and destroyed his racquet in frustration as Gustave came from behind to control the play.
Former Barbados Davis Cup player Kodi Lewis got off to a good start but was unable to continue that form.
After gaining success over Lewis yesterday, Gustave told Barbados TODAY the match for him was up and down but was happy to keep his focus and confidence to come out on top.
Gustave will meet Barbadian 16-year-old Stephen Slocombe in the final after the teenager defeated Barbados’ junior Davis Cup player Kyle Griffith in the semifinal. The seventh seed Slocombe is in search of a maiden senior national open title and his third singles trophy for the year having completed the Under-16 and 18 double at junior nationals a couple of days ago.
However, Gustave who is nursing a left knee injury is not too worried about meeting Slocombe in the final and said, “My left knee was bothering me at the beginning of the game and now to play somebody who is way younger than me will be challenging, but I am hoping for some recovery and hoping to do my best.”
During the men’s semifinal, Lewis got off to an impressive 3-0 start against Gustave who made several errors against the former Barbados top player who looked graceful on the court and played shots that made the modest crowd applaud repeatedly.
Big serves, forehand drives, slices, and backhand strokes – Lewis had every reason to fist pump as he was in total control from the onset of the match.
But Gustave cleaned up his mistakes among which was miss-timing his shot to trail by one point 3-4 and he eventually took the lead 5-4 and set 6-4 against Lewis who attempted several slices that never made it over the nets.
Similar to the opening set, Lewis gained early momentum when he led 1-0 but Gustave with excellent defence to keep the ball alive eventually lead 3-2 midway through the second set. Nothing was going right for Lewis who not only went for slices that didn’t work but also struggled to return when he tried his forehand shots. Perhaps it had to do with his fitness level having not played competitively for some time.
Gustave tried to get into Lewis’s head and was successful in doing so when the St. Lucian was up 5-2 on course for match point, and the Barbadian lost control by destroying his racquet on the court and received a warning for a court violation.
In the men’s round of 16 doubles match, Nicholas Charles and Christian Maxwell won 6-4, 4-6 and 10-7 in the tie-break against Kyle Griffith and James Mackenzie.
Charles and Maxwell attacked the frontcourt and mixed it up as the pair came from a game down 2-3 to lead 5-4 and eventually took the set after Griffith and Mackenzie got off to a good start but then lost their way.
Griffith and Mackenzie went hard at the returns and were unable to respond to those lovely volleys dispatched top of the net by Maxwell and Charles. A junior national Davis Cup player, Griffith did not get his serves right and even struck his partner Mackenzie in his neck during one of his services.
In the second set, Griffith and Mackenzie led 1-0 as they ensured the ball was placed inbound and fought to build some momentum. Charles and Maxwell had several failed returns to the benefit of Griffith and Mackenzie who cashed in and led 5-2.
Mackenzie also impressed with his serves when Griffith fell, and the two won the set 6-4 and tied the game 1-1 even though Charles and Maxwell put up some resistance and trailed 4-5 coming onto the end.
That forced the decisive third set into a tie-break situation, and Charles and Maxwell took an early advantage as they went ahead 5-2. However, Griffith and Mackenzie brushed off the nerves and tied the scores 5-5 which earned them the lead 6-5 as Charles and Maxwell lost four straight points.
But Charles and Maxwell composed themselves and managed to pull off the win after the scores were locked 7-7 and they managed to win the next three points including a beautiful drop shot from Charles to finish the set and game at 2-1.
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
