June 2017
USA wins Compass North American IC Jr Challenge
4th - 9th November 2017
Location: Mexico
COMPASS NORTH AMERICAN IC JUNIOR CHALLENGE SET TO START
The teams from USA, Bahamas have been getting acclimatised to the altitude of playing at the height of Mexico City over the last two days. They are now ready to start the North American Challenge along with two Mexican teams in a three day round robin.
On day 1 the draw has USA playing the White Mexico team and The Bahamas playing the Red Mexican team.
The juniors are excited to get going having already all helped in a clinic given to some Mexican ballboys. The camaraderie between the teams is good with much conversation over the dinners together. It looks like the event should reflect well the IC motto of "Hands across the net, friendship across the ocean" with some good competitive tennis.
THE BAHAMAS WIN ON A MIXED TIE BREAK
In wonderful weather for tennis on the first day of play The USA overcame The Mexico White team 5-1 with their one loss coming in the boys doubles.
Meanwhile an exciting match with The Bahamas and The Mexico red team. The Bahamas won both boys singles and the doubles while The Mexicans did the same on the girls matches. So it was 3 matches each and a mixed tie break to decide. The Bahamas team of Jacobi Bain and Sydney Clarke came out very strong taking it 10-4 to give The Bahamas a day one win along with The USA.
In the second round on Wednesday The Bahamas play Mexico White and The USA play Mexico Red. On Thursday The USA plays The Bahamas and the two Mexican teams meet.
BAHAMAS TO PLAY USA FOR PLACE IN WORLDWIDE FINALS
In Wednesday's play both The USA and The Bahamas continued their winning ways with wins over the two Mexican teams. This means that the final days match between these two teams will decide who will win The Compass North American IC Junior Challenge and earn their place in the 2018 Worldwide Finals in Tokyo next October.
The USA came through with a 6-0 win over The Mexico Red Team although there were some good matches. The Bahamas recorded a 5-1 win over The Mexican White team although two of these were by default due to an injury by the top Mexican girl.
So far both the Bahamian and USA boys have come through unbeaten in singles but that must change on the final day - so it should be some interesting matches. The Bahamian boys are also unbeaten in doubles. The USA girls are also strong and have an unbeaten record to date.
USA WINS COMPASS NORTH AMERICAN IC JR CHALLENGE
On the final day it came down to the match between USA and The Bahamas to see who would win The North American Challenge and go to the Compass Worldwide Finals in Japan next year. This is where they will join Italy, Uruguay, South Africa, India and host Japan.
The opening singles were split with Bahamas Jacobi Bain winning the number two boys singles and USA the number two girls singles. The USA then took both number one singles to give them a 3-1 lead going in to the doubles. The USA girls were particularly strong led by Lea Ma already at 110 in the ITF 18 & under rankings while still only 16. Her partner Ayana Akli was also strong and a good doubles player and they prevailed over the Bahamas to give the USA a winning 4-1 lead. Meanwhile an exciting match between the two boys team with Bahamas taking the first set, then losing the second and the final ten point tie break set.
So the Bahamas ended up in second place with the two Mexico teams in third and fourth place.
It was an enjoyable tennis event with good competition in the IC spirit of "hands across the net, friendship across the ocean".
Thank you to the IC of Mexico for staging this event.
For guides and competition rules please visit the further Information page to view available downloads.