The top-ranked women’s duo of Lee-Anne Thornton and Makeda Bain and the men’s pair of Akiel Duke and Vaughn Wilson expectedly captured the doubles titles when the first week of the Sunshine Snacks Tranquillity Tennis Open concluded at the club’s Victoria Avenue, Port-of-Spain, clay courts on Sunday.
In the women’s doubles decider, the top-ranked pair of Makeda Bain and Lee-Anne Thornton made it look easy in a 6-2, 6-1 whipping of the mother-daughter pairing of four-time national singles champion Shenelle Mohammed and Lilly Mohammed.
It was the second straight women’s doubles title for Thornton after she paired with Cameron Wong to claim the crown last year after beating Farah Chautilal and Catherine Campbell-Frost 6-1, 6-4.
And in the men’s doubles final, Duke and Wilson had a much tougher contest on their hands before they overcame last year’s winner, Keshan Moonasar, and first-time partner Gian-Luc Robinson in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, and 10-8 in the third-set tie-breaker.
It was a reversal of fortunes for Duke after he and Dunstan De Noon went under to Moonasar and Zachery Byng in last year’s final, 3-6, 5-7.
Earlier, in the men’s singles round of 16, defending men’s champion Wilson trounced Adrian Jacob 6-0, 6-0 to begin the defence of his title, and his next opponent, Jack Brown, dismissed eighth-ranked Askia Richards 6-2, 6-3, while fourth-ranked Moonasar steamrolled Kobe James 6-2, 6-3 for a meeting with the winner, sixth-ranked Kale Dalla Costa. who dumped Brendan De Voue 6-1, 6-1.
On the bottom half of the draw, second-ranked Andrew Thornton stopped Gian-Luc Robinson 6-4, 7-6(0) ahead of a clash against teenager Josiah Hills after he advanced when seventh-ranked Ethan Ammon retired in the third set with the scores at 6-7(4), 6-2, 2-0, while fifth-ranked Duke eased past Christopher Khan 6-1, 6-0 for a date with third-ranked De Noon, a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Jayden Mitchell.
In the morning session during the remaining last-32 encounters, Mitchell won by walkover against Stefon Ramsingh in the round of 32; Brendan De Voue ousted Nirav Dougdeen 6-4, 6-2, and Khan defeated Robert Caesar 6-4, 6-0.
Reigning women’s singles champ, Thornton also served off her bid to repeat as titleholder earlier yesterday by topping Charis Salina 6-0, 6-1 to storm into the quarterfinals, where she will face Cyra Ramcharan, who ousted her younger sister Suri Ramcharan 7-5, 7-5.
Madison Khan ranked fifth and outclassed Naomi Mohammed 6-1, 6-0 to set up a meeting with another Mohammed sister, Lilly, who stunned third-ranked Savitree Singh 6-4, 6-4.
On the other half of the draw, Bain stayed in the hunt for a second title when she silenced fourth-ranked Farrah Chautilal 7-6(1), 6-2 and next faces seventh-ranked Karissa Mohammed, another of the sisters, who won by walkover against Sherisse Arjoon, while second-ranked Campbell-Frost blanked Laurie Lewis 6-0, 6-0 and next meets Sarah Claverie after the latter rallied past eighth-ranked Laura-Li Maillard 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(4).
