Anya King confirmed her place on the T&T Fed Cup team by beating Soizette Simmonds in her final match of Fed Cup/Davis Cup Trials at the National Racquet Centre (NRC) in Tacarigua, yesterday.
Her 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Simmonds on court 12 completed an unblemished performance in the round-robin playoffs and put her as the third player on the team behind number one Yolande Leacock and second Briana Stampfli, who has been slated as the second player on the team. Simmonds was also rewarded for her performances in which her only defeat came at the hand of King.
Simmonds will be the reserved player on the team after finishing second overall in the playoffs. Also, yesterday apart from the King/Simmonds encounter, Ying Lee Assang secured the third place position by getting the better of an injured Abigail Jones 6-3, 1-1 retired.
Among the men, however, there was no stopping Aiden Carter and Akiel Duke from securing the top two spots on the T&T Davis Cup team. After having all wins in their earlier matches, the two players clashed to determine the winner of the play-off on court five, where Carter drew first blood with a 7-5 triumph of the first set.
However, Duke stormed back in the second set to level the match at one apiece with a 6-2 victory. The third and final set brought the best out of the players, but Carter, the 2016 COTECC champ and Under- 18 Coca-Cola International Doubles champion, prevailed in the end 6-3 and virtually booked his spot on the team despite having to face Richard Chung in another game later in the afternoon.
Chung, who has had an impressive run at the tournament, lost the opening set 5-7 before surrendering the second due to injury, with the score at 1-3 in Carter's favour.
Duke, on the other hand, picked himself up from his loss to Carter, to produce a 6-2, 6-1 victory at the expense of Dexter Mahase and seal the second player on the team. Nabeel Mohammed claimed the third spot on the T&T team with a walk-over victory at the expense of an injured Adam Ramkissoon.
Meanwhile, Chung and Mahase took fourth and fifth overall respectively in the play-off and were rewarded with the two reserve positions.
Both the Fed Cup and Davis Cup tournaments are scheduled to take place in the early part of the year. The venue and time are set to be announced soon.
TEAMS:
Fed Cup Team: Yolande Leacock, Brianna Stampfli, Anya King, Soizette Simmonds (reserve)
Davis Cup Team: Aidan Carter, Akiel Duke, Nabeel Mohammed, Richard Chung (reserve), Dexter Mahase (reserve)
