The Bahamas finishes 11th in Junior Fed Cup qualifying

After losing to Suriname on Friday, and beating Jamaica on Saturday, The Bahamas ended up 11th at the 2020 Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas North, Central America and Caribbean Pre-Qualifying Tournament in San Salvador, El Salvador.

In total, The Bahamas’ three-member team of Peyton Anderson, Kaylee Kanuka and Kinza Johnson won two of its three match-ups, losing to Cuba, Guatemala and Suriname, and defeating Honduras and Jamaica. A total of 14 nations, competing out of four groups, took part in the girls 16s pre-qualifying tournament. They are: The Bahamas, Barbados, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, host country El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On Friday, The Bahamas fell to Suriname two matches to one. In the first match, The Bahamas’ number two player Kanuka lost to Suriname’s number two Aila Koorndijk in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-1. The Bahamas’ number one player Anderson also lost in straight sets, falling to Suriname’s number one Jamila Sadiek, 6-1 and 6-4. With the match-up already decided, The Bahamas’ team of Anderson and Johnson defeated Suriname’s team of Sadiek and Kaeney de Mees in doubles, 6-3 and 6-1.

The team fared better on Saturday, defeating Jamaica.

In the first singles match, Johnson took down Kalila Morris in straight sets, 6-3 and 7-5. However, in the other singles match, Anderson fell to Abigail Pereu in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-0, in a match that lasted just 45 minutes. In doubles, the Bahamian team of Anderson and Kanuka defeated the Jamaican team of Pereu and Thandie Sampson in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-1.

The three-member team was coached by Chelsi Russell, a recently certified International Tennis Federation (ITF) Level 2 Coach.

The Bahamas fell out of contention for one of the spots in the Junior Fed Cup Final for this region with a whitewash loss to number one ranked Guatemala on Wednesday. The Bahamas won just one game in three contests, and none of the three contests lasted for an hour.

On Tuesday, The Bahamas fell 2-1 to Cuba. In an extremely tough match against Honduras on Thursday, The Bahamas won five of the eight sets up for grabs and 43 of the 83 games to prevail two matches to one.

The Bahamas finished third in its group, and just the top two finishers in each group advanced to the tournament quarterfinals.

Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup are international team competitions for boys and girls in the 16-and-under age category. In the Junior Davis Cup earlier this month, The Bahamas was represented by Dentry Mortimer Jr. and Anthony Burrows, and the team failed to advance to the Junior Davis Cup Finals for the Americas.

Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas were launched by the ITF in 1985 as the 16-and-under World Youth Cup, and rebranded in 2002. BNP Paribas has been the title sponsor of the Junior Davis Cup since 2002, before going on to sponsor the Junior Fed Cup in 2005.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/02/17/the-bahamas-finishes-11th-in-junior-fed-cup-qualifying/