The first round of the PWC Men’s Invitational tournament produced some entertaining tennis on Tuesday, the first night of the week long tournament.
It was a fantastic evening’s play of eight matches at the Cayman Islands Tennis Club in South Sound. There was only one surprise; unfortunately, Marvin Rolle of the Bahamas had to pull out of the tournament due to an injury. Ilian Nachev, a local pro from the Ritz-Carlton, benefited by receiving a late call to replace Rolle.
In Tuesday’s action the number one seed of the tournament and last year’s winner, Marcio Torres, took on one of Cayman’s own and 2012 pwc Open Champ Mica Koll. Torres won a closer than expected 6-3, 6-3.
Koll showed patience and fought a hard battle. It was a great experience for Koll against an Association of Tennis Professionals ranked player.
Torres looks as though he may have stiff competition this year from the first time comer, Stefano Ianni from Italy.
Ianni is still playing on the ATP Tour. He faced the tough clay court foe of Raul Gurailnick of Chile in the first round. While defeating Gurailnick 6-1, 6-1 the match was much closer than the score would suggest and extremely entertaining for the crowd.
The Jamaicans that have come to this year’s tournament all made it past the first round. Yussof Migoko, a Jamaican Davis Cup player, defeated local youngster Alex Leonard in a long 6-2, 6-2 match and Marcus Malcolm defeated Rob Weins 7-6, 6-3.
McCoy Malcolm, Marcus’s brother, defeated Cayman coach Adam Bayley 6-1, 6-4. This is the third year that the Jamaicans have played in the PWC Men’s Invitational tournament.
“We have a great time coming to this tournament every year,” said Marcus Malcolm. “We had a couple of our other teammates that were coming however they had some last minute details that prevented them from coming. The Cayman organisers have put on a great show and I am happy to make it out here for my second run for some prize money.” “This is a fantastic club and the members are also very friendly and supportive,” said Migoko.
The tournament’s third seed from Barbados, who is ATP ranked, Haydn Lewis, defeated Cayman’s Dale Avery 6-1, 6-2. The match was much more entertaining than the score indicates.
Andres De Armas, from Venezuela, faced another local, Nikhil Jha. De Armas won 6-1, 6-1.
The singles matches continued on Wednesday. On Wednesday the 2012 PWC Men’s Doubles competition began. The semi-finals are on Friday starting at 5.30pm and then the finals of the singles will be taking place on Saturday at 4.30pm with the doubles final after.
Tennis club coach Rob Seward said: “The Cayman Islands Tennis Club thanks PWC for taking on the primary sponsorship for this tournament for the sixth straight year. Without them it would not be possible.
We would also like to thank our first year sponsor Cayman National.
“The tennis this week will has been amazing entertainment and we do hope that all of you can take advantage of the talent that we have here at the moment.
There is no cost to watch the matches and throughout the week food is provided by Caribos, so bring your empty stomachs and enjoy some terrific tennis.”
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