Tennis princesses 3rd in Costa Rica

Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-12 tennis princesses finished third in their group when the curtains came down on the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) World Tennis/Central American and Caribbean Tennis Confederation (COTECC) Under-12 Team Final U-12 Sub Region 4 Masters Tournament in Costa Rica on Sunday.

The team of Teija Wellington, Anaya Roberts, and Zara Walker defeated the Dominican Republic 2-1 in a final group match for third, after losses to Mexico 3-0 and host Costa Rica by the same margin, 3-0. National coach Javier Jovani Lewis said he was pleased with the execution of his little charges on the day.

Wellington surrendered the opening rubber to Elaine Martinez in straight sets, 2-6, 4-6. However, Roberts, winless in her two previous matches, fashioned a comeback by beating Amalia Rosario in the second singles encounter.

Focused on a winning result to repair the early damage, Roberts prevailed in the first set 6-7(5) before improving her execution in the other sets 6-3 and 10-5 to level the game 1-1.

With the game locked at one apiece, the pair of Roberts and Wellington took the team to victory, defeating the twosome of Zoe Gomera and Martinez 6-3 and 7-6(0). Lewis, a former national player who represented the country at the Davis Cup and other international tournaments, said the players showed the mental toughness they lacked in the previous matches.

“The first match with Anaya would have been one of the toughest matches, and she went out there and fought, and that is what was required at that time: the ability for them to just go out and do their best and fight, no matter what, no matter the score, and it is what made us prevail,” Lewis explained.

“The thing about it is that they understood because I would have spoken to them, and they got the understanding more or less. It is not how hard you could hit, you know; it’s more or less staying on point and controlling the points, controlling the points until they get the opportunity. And that is what they went out and did,” Lewis concluded.

The Mexicans topped the group with an unblemished display of three wins in as many matches, for a total of three points. The host nation secured the runner-up spot by losing to the Mexicans for figures of two wins in three matches, while T&T lost twice but rebounded with a victory over the winless Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic finished bottom of the four-team table with three losses in as many games.

The T&T girls will now turn their focus on the Youth Billie Jean King Cup, which is scheduled to take place next year.