Xenya Miller-Brown and Chase Morin sweep titles at Mayberry Caribbean junior tennis meet

Xenya Miller-Brown and Chase Morin each collected two titles at this week’s Mayberry Investments Caribbean Open Junior Tennis Championship, staged over five days at the Liguanea Club.

Miller-Brown first secured the girls’ under-16 crown, then returned later the same day for the under-18 final against Rachel Anderson. Favoured going in, she took the opening set 6-3 before heat and fatigue told in the second, which she dropped 4-6. The match was decided by a 10-point match tiebreak. Miller-Brown surged to 8-1, Anderson closed to 8-7, and Miller-Brown claimed the last two points for a 10-7 victory.

“I’d like to say I’m a very competitive player. I know what I need to do and I try to execute it to the best of my abilities. I think the 18s was just a bit more challenging as it went to three sets, but it was a very good match,” Miller-Brown said.

Earlier, she had brushed aside Alicia Chanchlani in the under-16 final, winning 6-2, 6-1.

Morin ruled the lower boys’ age groups. He captured the under-14 title by finishing ahead of Samuel Cassie in a round-robin playoff with three wins, then took the under-12 crown with a 4-2, 4-0 victory over Ethan Moore.

The boys’ under-18 final ended early when cramps and dehydration forced Dylan Marks to retire against Nazer Robinson in the deciding tiebreak. Marks had won the first set 6-4; Robinson answered 7-5 in the second. After struggling to stay upright and managing only a few serves in the decider, Marks shook hands and conceded.

Ajani Robinson won the boys’ under-16 title, defeating Aken Johnson of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Isabelle Bailey took the girls’ under-14 section, also contested as a round robin, beating Sahigh Forner 6-2, 6-4 after both entered the decisive meeting unbeaten through two rounds. Forner still left with silverware, winning the under-12 title over Sage Dixon.

Tournament director Lock McGregor said overseas entries leave him confident the championship will keep growing.

“If you think back when we used to have the Brandon and Phillips, it was a very big tournament. It was the only Caribbean championship and that was one of the things that was pulling tennis together at that point in time in terms of creating an incentive for young players and older players to give them a chance to represent their country at the Caribbean level before they go on to the international level which is the Davis Cup,” McGregor said.

Four players from St. Vincent and the Grenadines competed. One of them stressed how rare and costly such opportunities remain for smaller islands, while acknowledging that travelling so far and still losing can sting even when the experience builds the player.

“Tournaments like these are very, very important for Caribbean people because we don’t have a lot, especially coming from the smaller islands further down. Getting these places is very expensive. But the tennis is always amazing and the kids grow from it, they learn,” the player said. Reflecting on a first-round defeat, the same competitor added that a coach’s encouragement eventually helped restore belief after a long spell of self-doubt.