By Charmaine Austin, Staff Reporter
Richard Dickenson is caught in an awkward position as he makes a forehand return in his boys' 18 game of the Capital & Credit All Jamaica Junior Tennis Championships at the Eric Bell Centre yesterday. Dickenson upset fourth seed Marlon Gichie 6-2, 6-2. - Michael Sloley /Freelance Photographer
UNSEEDED RICHARD Dickenson created an upset when he breezed past fourth-seeded Marlon Gichie in second-round boys' 18 action of the Capital & Credit All Jamaica Junior Tennis Championships at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre yesterday.
Dickenson held the upper hand throughout the aggressive encounter winning 6-2, 6-2 but Gichie managed to shine a few times with timely, well-placed shots.
There was some discord between the two regarding the correct score in the fifth game of the second set but though they managed to work things out, it seemed too late for Gichie and Dickenson romped to victory.
"The game was pretty rough but I'm an all-round player so I adjusted when necessary," Dickenson said. "I used different approaches to get around him. It really was my game. I made very little unforced errors and though I've had a lot of unfair calls against me in the past I put that behind me and focussed on my game," he said.
The 16-year-old overseas-based player was recently awarded a partial scholarship to the prestigious Bill Adams Tennis Academy in Florida and he hopes that this tournament will greatly improve his game.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I'm hoping that I improve from this tournament and put myself in a position to get the most from the scholarship," he said.
In other boys' 18 games, the seeded players stayed true to form and advanced to the next round.
No. 1 Damion Johnson easily got by Christopher Whitfield 6-1, 6-0, second seed Dominic Pagon beat Ricardo Stewart 6-1, 6-1, third seed Garfield Blagrove stopped Brandon Williams 6-1, 6-3 while Andrew Anguin eked out a 6-3, 6-1 win over Antonio Shirley.
In girls action, second seeded Kacia Riley stopped Krystina Dickenson 10-2 in a girls' 12 clash.
Calisa Reid beat Alexis Chin 6-3, 6-0, Kacia Riley beat Kenisha Daley 6-4, 6-0, Dacia Riley beat Lisa Davis 6-0, 6-2 and Raquel Robinson stopped Kelly Akin 6-0, 6-0 in girls' 14 play.
Chin suffered her second defeat of the day when she went down 6-3, 6-1 to Nickesha Brown in the girls' 18 division while Danielle Monteith defeated Amanda Thwaites 6-2, 6-4 in the other game.
In other matches:
Boys' 10: Jordan Senior def Zachary Banbury 10-0. Boys' 12: Brandon Burke def Michael Hayle 10-0, Vincent Williams def Russell Monteith 10-0, Mario Downer def Louis Gibbs 10-0.
Boys' 14
Kristopher Martin def Sameer Whitehall 6-0, 6-0. Kevon Bartley def Brandon Chin 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Brian Grant def Michael Evans 6-0, 6-0. Marlon Downer def Christian Battaglia 6-1, 6-0
Boys' 16
Richard Dickenson def Phillip McLean 6-0, 6-0. Michael Evans def Michael Brooks 6-3, 6-3. Peter Miller def Martin Moses 6-3, 6-3. Andrew Anguin def Christopher McKessey 6-1, 6-2. Brandon Williams def Adrian Smith 6-2, 6-2.
Girls' 16
Carolyn Chuck def Joleen Soares 6-0, 6-2. Euzanne McIntosh def Amanda Thwaites 6-1, 6-2. Raquel Monteith def Tian Peralto 6-1, 6-0.
Third round action gets underway this morning at 8:00 o'clock.
