Louis Kale Dalla Costa and Christiana Hills, both number one seeds when the final day of action in the RBC Junior Tennis Tournament started on Thursday at the National Racquet Centre (NRC) in Tacarigua, finished the day in the same position, only with titles to their names in the boys' and girls' Under-18 division.
Dalla-Costa, facing the second-seed Zachery Byng, made lighter work than expected out of his counterpart by prevailing in two sets 6-3, 6-2. The encounter had been a much-awaited one after both players were at the top of their games respectively, however, Dalla-Costa, the winner of the singles title at the Central American and Caribbean Confederation (COTECC) Carnival Cup, showed why he prevailed there in the final yesterday.
Hills, meanwhile, has also not lost a match in the tournament, and as the top-seeded player she did not disappoint, wrapping up her campaign with a more-than-convincing 6-1, 6-0 triumph on court five over Laura-Li Maillard, who entered the match as the second-ranked player.
However, in the U-16 division, no T&T player made it to the final. Instead, it was Sanjay Lakes taking the boys' 16 and under crown, courtesy of a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Denney Estava in an all-St Lucia affair on court six.
St Lucia's number one Alhil Cyril later pulled off an almost flawless victory 6-1, 6-1 over T&T's Jacob Jacelon for the boys' U-14 crown, while the other national player in the second U-14 boys final Noah Blanc, could not match up against Guyana's Jose Rodrigues, losing 6-3, 6-2.
Earlier T&T's Makeda Bain clinched the girls' 14 and under title when she disposed of Antigua's Jollie George-Alexander in two sets 6-3, 6-3. It was the first silverware for Bain who later moved on to win the girls' 14 and under doubles crown.
The boys' U-10 singles title was sewn up by Ethan Primus who overcame his compatriot Dhruv Rambhajan in two sets 5-4(5), 4-0. And in the girls U-12s- Suri Ramcharan surrendered when she was beaten by Kimora Erskine of Guyana 7-6(2), 6-3.
