Rain hampers opening day of Downy Tennis Classic

Only one match was completed on the opening day of the Downy Tennis Classic which is being hosted at the Half Moon Tennis courts in Montego Bay.

Following the 3 p.m. start, Jonathan Golden was able to take care of Jaiden Gibbs 6-3, 6-1 in the Men’s Open division before the inclement weather put a halt to all the other matches that were on court.

Kristoff Grizzle was leading Kosei Gibbs 7-3 in the 10 points tiebreaker, this after Grizzle won the first set 7-5 before Gibbs rallied to secure the second set 6-1.

Frank Harris was also leading Mehul Bhojwani 3-0 in their Open division match while sixth seed Nicholas Chung was also comfortably leading Troy Gichie 4-1 before the rain sent everyone scampering.

Jamar Parkinson had just started his contest against Ronaldo Cross after leading 1-0 while the lone ladies division match saw Marsha-Lee Thomas and Helena Parkinson tied at 3-3.

Tournament director David Sanguinetti outlined that the unfinished matches would resume today at 7 a.m., after which more than 50 matches are scheduled to take place on the day across the Men’s, Ladies and doubles format.

The 2023 Downy Classic has attracted 24 entries in Men’s Open division with number one seed David Goldsmith scheduled to bow into action on today’s second day after receiving a bye from the opening round.

Goldsmith is set to face the winner of the Gibbs-Grizzle clash while number two seed Dwayne Pagon is slated to take on the winner of the Parkinson-Cross encounter.

The ladies’ number one seed Maureen Miller is also slated to get her first taste of action today when she awaits the winner of the Simone Hudson and Abigail Blake clash.

With rain also expected on today’s second day, Sanguinetti said the tournament has put plans in place to ensure that there is a winner come Sunday’s final day.

“We always have a contingency because if we cannot finish a tournament, we have at our disposal to change the scoring format and reduce the number of games. Hopefully, we will have a fantastic day of tennis and we won’t have to resort to that.”

This year’s Men’s Open winner is expected to pocket $100,000 with the runner-up taking home $60,000. There will also be trophies and other prizes presented to the amateur players in Class Two and Class Three men as well as the ladies amateur and the amateur mixed doubles event.