Woes continue for TT in tennis cups

The TT women were thrashed for their third consecutive game 3-0, this time to Guatemala in Pool “B” action at the Pabellon de Tenis, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Paulina Schippers defeated Dayna Grazette 6-2, 7-5 in the opener and Kirsten-Andrea Weedon wrapped up the victory for Guatemala with a clinical 6-0, 6-1 win over Lee-Anne Lingo.

And the pair of Ana Lilyan Guzman and Weedon completed the flawless victory for Guatemala with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Carlista and Lingo.

TT are yet to register a win in the competition and played their final match of the tournament yesterday against hosts Dominican Republic with just pride on the line.

Both countries are out of the reckoning for promotion to Group I of the Fed Cup competition. Cuba are the favourites to qualify with three victories from as many matches.

Meanwhile, the TT team began their Davis Cup qualifiers with a defeat at the hands of Bermuda at the Maya Country Club, LaLibertad, El Salvador.

Bermudan Gavin Manders put TT on the back foot with a comfortable straight sets win over Vaughn Wilson. Manders took the first 6-2 and won the following set by an identical score to put Bermuda ahead 1-0.

But TT’s Richard Chung, the 2008 Public Courts champ and Singles finalist at the 2009 “Tranquil” Open showed that he has the ability to play at his level with a hard fought victory over Jenson Bascome.

He needed just two sets to secure victory but was pushed all the way before prevailing 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) to square the contest at 1-1.

But with all to play for in the doubles match, the pair of Chung and Jerome Ward failed to win the decisive match, losing 2-6, 1-6 to Manders and Bascome.

TT faced Panama yesterday in their next match and will need to emerge victorious to get their campaign back on track. TT are in Group IV alongside Aruba, Bermuda, Panama and the US Virgin Islands. The competition is being played in round-robin format with the top two nations advancing to Americas Group III in 2010.