Three and a half hour battle highlights Saturday’s GBTI Tennis action

Highlighting Saturday’s matches at the GBTI Tennis was an epic three and a half hour win for Andre Erskine over Berbician Mario Niamatalli who saved 9 match points during the course of the game.

Andre Erskine (left) and Mario Niamatalli after the match.

The match started off with Erskine breaking Niamatalli’s serve early to go ahead but never being able to secure a lead as Niamatalli returned the favour to keep the match tied up until 5-5 before Erskine finally claimed the set 7-5.  Erskine’s aggressive play in the second set saw him going ahead 5-3 and 40-0 with three match points and the match seemed all but finished for Niamatalli.
This was not the case as he fought back to break Erskine’s serve to 4-5. As was the trend in the game, Erskine again went ahead and secured another 3 match points as Niamatalli went down 0-40.
He was again unable to close out and the match was tied up at 5-5 and eventually went to a tie-break which Niamatalli secured 7-2 to force the deciding set.
A similar trend followed in the final set where a 5-2 lead was established and despite playing some good shots, Erskine’s cautious play allowed Niamatalli to save another 3 match points at 5-2 and 40-0 before Niamatalli’s own serve faltered and he lost the set 6-3.  Erskine will play Sandeep Chand in his second round encounter.
In Ladies Doubles action, junior pair Krystal Sukra /Nicola Ramdyhan outgunned Berbicians Carol Humphrey and Celeste Bradford in straight sets 6-1 6-3 in their round robin encounter.  The other team in the category comprises Thi Fernandes/Aruna Ramrattan.
In the junior categories there were easy wins for 11 yr old Afruica Gentle, Nicola Ramdyhan and Benedict Sukra, while in the Novices Category there were impressive wins for Victor Demchenko, Celeste Bradford, Anthony Sookram, Seweon Mc Garrell, Vini Aaron and Aubrey Dewart in their one set encounters.
In the lone Mixed Doubles match Grace McCalman/Nicholas Glasgow easily defeated Alfred Mentore/Onage Ghanie 6-1 6-2 in their first round match.  The tournament continues daily with matches from 5:00 PM
GBTI Open Results – Day 3 Saturday 14th July
Men’s Singles  Andre Erskine def Mario Niamatali  7-5  6-7 (7-2)  6-3
Ladies Doubles Krystal Sukra/Nicola Ramdhyan def Carol Humphrey/Celeste Bradford  6-1 6-3
Men’s 45 Singles  Steve David-Longe def Rawle Sue Ho 6-3   6-0
Mixed Doubles Godfrey Lowden/Carol Humphrey  def George/George  by W/O
Men’s Doubles Ronald Murray/Rawle Sue-Ho  def  Viraj Judgeo/Kris Judgeo  by W/O
Mixed Doubles Nicholas Glasgow/Grace McCalman def  Alfred Mentore/Onage Ghanie 6-1  6-2
Girls 18 Singles Afruica Gentle  def  Aneesa Grandison   6-2   6-0
Girls 18 Singles Nicola Ramdyhan  def  Delecia George   6-0  6-0
Boy’s 18 Singles  Benedict Sukra  def  Khalid Gobin  6-1  6-1
Novices Category
Celeste Bradford def Ryan Cumberbatch  6- 4
Seweon McGarrell    def Gavin Ramsoondar  6-2
Vini Aaron def Onage Ghani   6-1
Aubrey Dewart  def Iqbal Mohamed  6-1
Anthony Sookram   def Suzanna Wharton   6-0
Victor Demchenko  def Rohandev Persaud  6-0
Kishon Gorakh def Afraz Mohamed by W/O