Teen titans

Defending champion Stephen Slocombe recovered tremendously from a set down to retain his Under-18 Boys title 2-1 against number one seed Adam King when the C.O.Williams Junior Nationals concluded earlier today at the National Tennis Centre.

This would make it the second consecutive year that 17-year-old Slocombe has won the Under-18 age group, triumphing today 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the two best of three sets final contested at the home of tennis in Wildey.

There was a high level of expectation for Slocombe to come out on top and he did not disappoint. After all the young right-hander is part of the senior Barbados Davis Cup team set up, not to mention he has won four junior titles in 2019 in both the Under-16 and 18 divisions and has a bagful of knowledge compared to his rival King.

Speaking after his match-winning performance, Slocombe seeded at number two said he had a slight personal issue that forced him to preserve himself in the opening set of the match. But King who is the new Under-16 champion forced Slocombe into a do or die situation that caused him to go hard in the second and third sets in order to pull off the win.

“After the first set, I knew what I completely had to do and knew I was capable of doing it. So, I wasn’t too worried but I knew I had to put up a fight. Adam (King) played a really good game, I am not going to take that from him, very much improved from last year, he surprised me a lot. But in the second and third sets I went for it,” Slocombe said.

Playing in hot humid conditions, Slocombe, coached by Paul Stewart, showed his dominance with several four-hand finishes against King.

Not taking anything away from King though, he got back quickly on several returns and kept up well with Slocombe but could not pull off the upset. King got a bit of revenge when he joined forces with Curt Seifert to win the Under-18 doubles 7-6, 7-5 against Slocombe and his partner Tyler Baptiste.

Hannah Chambers, a student of the St. Michael School lived up to expectation when she continued her impressive form by securing the Under-18 Girls trophy 6-3, 6-3 against Serena Bryan for the second consecutive year.

Speaking with Barbados TODAY, Chambers explained that she was happy with the level of tennis she was playing at the moment. Admitting that even though she won the Under-16 singles against main rival Serena Bryan yesterday, it was a struggle but today on the court she managed to rectify that when they met once again, this time in the Under-18 girls’ showdown.

“We played each other yesterday and it was a bit of a struggle for me but then I got used to her game and today I pushed through because I was more aggressive,” Chambers said.

In the opening set of the Under-18 ladies final, 16-year-old Chambers trailed 3-1 against Queen’s College student Bryan who is two years younger. Despite being down early in the set, Chambers came back strong to tie the scores 3-3, take the advantage 4-3 and went on to claim the next two games. From there Chambers, the number one seed, grew in confidence and closed out the match convincingly.

Alex Stewart after a six-year break from the sport announced his presence on the local lawn tennis scene with fantastic wins in the Under-14 boys’ singles and doubles.

Competing against the stylish Xavier Hastick, Stewart, also a junior national squash player, was unstoppable winning 6-1, 6-1 in the boys’ singles against Hastick. Meanwhile, in the doubles match Stewart teamed up with Elliott Anthony and the pair won 6-2, 6-2 over Hastick and Aidan Clarke.

Stewart told Barbados TODAY he was pleased with his results since it was his first year back competing at junior nationals. “I am very happy with my results. I used to play tennis but I stopped six years ago and focused on squash. Thanks to Covid-19 I had the opportunity to return to the sport.

“My age group consisted of some very promising young players. A mixture of talent. I must applaud my opponent Xavier Hastick who has what it takes to make a great player. Ethan Walters as well is a very good player with lots of potential,” Stewart said.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb