By Neto Baptiste
Antigua and Barbuda dominated the recently held Antigua Pre-Christmas Junior Invitational Tennis Tournament held here over the weekend, winning seven of 10 finals held at the National Tennis Center at Campsite.
Antigua and Barbuda triumphed in the Girls 12s Consolation with Leah Victoria Williams, defeating her Antiguan counterpart Zara McKinnon 6-3. There was victory as well for Victoria McKay who teamed up with St Kitts’s Briella Lake to claim the doubles in the Girls 12 category. They defeated Brooke Hosam and Sophie Hadeed, both of Antigua by scores of 7-6, 7-5.
Also taking home hardware is Jolie George-Alexander in the Girls 16s round robin event. She won all three matches in her group. Antiguan counterpart, Katelyn Pasula was second, winning two of her three encounters.
There were wins for Zachary Taya in the Boys 12s Consolation and Kurt John-Baptiste in the Boys 14s round robin. Taya beat Antigua’s Zayden King 6-3 while John-Baptiste won all three matches in his division. St Kitts’s Gabriel York finished second with two wins from three matches.
In the Boys 16 Singles event, Antigua’s Niike Hughes had the better of countryman Giovonni Quinn 7-5, 6-0 to claim the top prize before the duo joined forces to claim the doubles prize over M Duggins of St Kitts and K Roberts of Antigua by a score of 8-0.
Khalil Roberts won the Boys 16 consolation by a score of 7-5 over Cayden Powell of St Kitts.
Briella Lake of St Kitts was triumphant in the Girls 12s singles final, beating Antigua’s Hosam 6-3 while T’Zuriel Percival, also of St Kitts had the better of Antigua’s Gabriel York 6-0 in the Boys 12 Singles event.
A total of 40 participants competed in the tournament. This year’s event was the third installation of the competition, which started in 2022. St Kitts claimed the inaugural title while the teams finished the championships on even terms in 2023.
