Parris impresses to advance

Jason ‘Pipey’ Parris might just be the best chopper in road tennis after all.

Parris, the self-proclaimed number-one chopper, made mincemeat of the highly rated Antonio Harewood when the Hope for the Ghetto road tennis competition continued on the Belfield courts on Thursday night.

Playing in the feature match, Parris wowed the sizeable crowd in attendance with his consistent stroke play during a 21-14, 22-20, straight sets victory over Harewood, a taxi operator.

Harewood actually was in total control of the opening game, rushing out to an early 7-1 lead. However, Parris eventually settled to lock the scores at 7-7 as Harewood committed several unforced errors trying to attack his opponent.

Despite the comeback, Harewood still managed to establish a slender two-point lead (14-12) before he suddenly and shockingly self-destructed.

Spectators were left in disbelief as Harewood hit nine consecutive forehand shots either into the net or long, to gift the first game to Parris.

The second game was much more competitive with the two players frequently engaging in long rallies, much to the delight of the crowd.

While Harewood was content to keep the ball in Parris’ backhand, Parris adopted a strategy of targeting his opponent’s weaker forehand.

With the scores locked at 15, Parris appeared to be heading for an easy victory after three rash, unforced errors by Harewood gave him a three-point lead (18-15)

But Harewood battled back to take the lead and was within one point of winning the game (20-19).

However, he sent a backhand return into the net to deuce the game, before two more unforced errors sealed his fate as Parris advanced into the round of 32.

In one of only two games to go the distance on the night, J.W Small defeated the hard-hitting Shawn Gilkes in a three-game thriller, 19-21, 21-12, 22-20.

The final game was a cliffhanger, with neither player able to establish more than a one-point lead.

With Small leading 19-18, he committed a cardinal sin by stopping a wild forehand shot from Gilkes inside the court, even though it was headed out.

That shifted the momentum briefly as Gilkes used his powerful serve to take a 20-19 lead. He surprisingly changed the serve, which allowed Small to deuce the game and eventually hold on for the win.

In other results Deryck Clarke thumped Patrick Albert 21-7, 21-5, Terry Smith edged Randy Headley 18-21, 21-17, 22-20, Trevor Ifill defeated Mark Franklyn 21-3, 21-16 and Azarie Clarke dominated Shawn Husbands 21-11, 21-6.

The competition moves to the London Bourne Towers road tennis courts on Saturday and Sunday.
(RB)