Lopes waltzes into Men’s final

GBTI Tennis Open

Daniel Lopes comfortably defeated Benjettan Osbourne in two sets to move into the final of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Tennis Open men’s final after play on Wednesday at the bank’s facility.
The feature match between Lopes and Osbourne turned out to be a one-sided and ill-tempered affair, but the former won the match 6-0, 6-1.
Lopes was simply too dominant for Osbourne. He played some of his best tennis, and cut down on unforced errors significantly to nullify the potential challenge of Osborne. His opponent was skillfully kept off balance and unable to launch an attack as Lopes kept moving the ball around the court.
A visibly perturbed and frustrated Osborne repeatedly questioned line calls, and was able to save only 6-0 in the second set when he dug deep and won a game to be 5-1, before Lopes served out the set.
Lopes has advanced to the finals, where he will face top seed Anthony Downes.
Godfrey Lowden, campaigning in the Over-45 category, proved to be good in his matches, as he registered comprehensive wins in his singles and doubles matches. In his semi-final match against Rudy Grant, his fast-paced style allowed him to put away Grant 6-3, 6-1 after Grant was able to mount an early challenge. The old rivalry has been more one-sided in Lowden’s favour in recent years, as Grant now plays sparingly and is less mobile.
In Men’s Over-45 Doubles action, Lowden partnered with Omar Persaud and encountered stiff resistance from American Albert Razick and Steve Surujbally, who took the first set 7-6 in the tiebreak, before the match changed and they won only one more game before the team retired, facing a 4-0 deficit in the final set. Final scores in the match were 6-7, 6-1, 4-0 (retired).
Other entertaining matches were when an injured Heimraj Resaul was able to hold off the challenge of talented but inconsistent junior Khalid Gobin 6-2, 7-6 in the Boys’ quarterfinal as the pair played excellent tennis. An injured Resaul subsequently had to forfeit his remaining matches to allow Joshua Kalekyezi, who first defeated Nigel Lowe at 6-1, 6-0 and unexpectedly upended top ranked Mark McDonald in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 10-7, to book his first GBTI Boys Final against Jordan Beaton.
In the Men’s Open Doubles semis, the new pairing of Mark McDonald and Andre Erskine gave top seeds Anthony Downes/Jason Andrews a challenge as they took the second set 6-3, before going down in three sets as the top seeds restored order with a 6-2 final set, after having a similarly dominant 6-1 first set. Leyland Leacock/Daniel Lopes also easily defeated Nicholas Glasgow/Joseph DeJonge 6-2, 6-1 to book their place in the semis.
A keenly contested Ladies Singles match was cut short when Cristy Campbell could not overcome progressive muscular cramps, and retired in the third set to Kalyca Fraser 3-6, 6-3 1-0.
Mixed Doubles quarterfinal action saw Ciara Pooran/Nicholas Glasgow defeating the pair of GLTA executives Grace McCalman/Jamal Goodluck 6-3 , 6-1, but the two subsequently gave Daniel Lopes/Sarah Klautky a w/o in the semis to reach the Finals.