Downy Tennis Classic a big success
Published:Tuesday | October 11, 2022 | 12:10 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Although rain threatened to put a damper on the inaugural Downy Tennis Classic, held at Tryall Golf and Country Club last weekend, the event turned out better than expected, said tournament organiser Simon Casserley.
Dwayne Pagon took the major prize on offer after he defeated McCoy Malcolm 6-1, 7-5 for the men’s open title.
The men’s Class Two event went to Richard Deenah, who won by default after Michael Sutherland retired hurt with the game locked at 1-1 in the first set.
Kenrick Picknight stopped Carlinton Burrell 6-4, 6-3 in a competitive contest for the Class Three title.
The ladies’ crown went to Kemi Richardson who defeated Helena Parkinson 6-3, 6-4 in that final.
While the mixed doubles was won by the Nicholas Chung & Marsha Thomas combination, who turned back Davian Burrell & Latoya Facey 6/3.
Casserley admitted that the rain delayed some of the men’s open quarterfinal matches, which were scheduled for Saturday and that forced some of those games to spill over into Sunday morning. However, he was pleased Sunday allowed for a full day of tennis.
HAPPY WITH FIRST STAGING
“We are very happy with how it turned out with the first staging of the event. It was everything that could be expected,” he said.
“We had a rain delay on Saturday which meant that on Sunday some of the men’s open competitors had to play three matches. They had to play the quarterfinal, the semi- final and the final on the same day, which was gruelling and we saw that it took its toll on McCoy Malcolm, as in the final he was visibly tired,” Casserley said.
He disclosed that Pagon was one of those who completed his quarterfinal match on Saturday, which meant he only had two games to play the following day, the semis in the morning and the final in the afternoon. Malcolm played three matches on the final day.
“I wouldn’t say that would have changed the result because Dwayne was the number one seed and he prevailed.
“But the tournament was good. We are happy as it exceeded our expectations and the expectations of a lot of sponsors and everybody is talking about next year. So we are hoping that this will be the first of many,” he remarked.
“After the rain on Saturday, I started saying some prayers and they were answered because we had a good day Sunday.”
He was also impressed with the quality of tennis and level of competition.
“We had 65 entries which we think was a very good turnout and the quality of play was high.
“All the events were keenly contested except for the men’s Class Two event where a player had to retire because of injury. But that game also promised to be a very close contest,” he noted.
Tournament director David Sanguinetti also gave the tournament a big thumbs up.
“It was the inaugural event and it was a fantastic event. We had a couple of rain delays on Saturday, so we had matches early Sunday morning and everybody came and it was really an outstanding event.
“The president of Tennis Jamaica (John Azar) was there for the prize-giving ceremony because it was a Tennis Jamaica-sanctioned event.
“Tennis Jamaica was also very impressed with the facilities at the Tryall Golf and Country Club. So it was a win-win and we are looking to have the event again next year,” he said.