By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The 2023 Giorgio Baldacci Open National Tennis Championships saw Simone Pratt and Baker Newman claim the championship hardware for the women’s and men’s divisions respectively.

Pratt upset the first ranked Sydney Clarke on Thursday in the women’s singles finals.

Meanwhile, Newman overpowered Rodney Carey Jr to claim his third national victory.

The finals were spectacular for the women and men’s divisions as both ended in three sets yesterday. The third ranked Pratt had to earn her trophy after Clarke gave it all she had in their championship showdown.

The 22-year-old notched the set one victory 7-6(5). The newly-crowned women’s national champion recovered despite the windy weather conditions and stole set two 6-3. She solved Clarke’s formula in the final set and dominated her 6-1 to win her second national honours in over a decade.

“I feel like it was a great match we both came out to play. It was a lot of windy conditions again today. I just had to go out there, face the wind and move my feet. I feel like I played my game and I was able to come out with the win today,” Pratt said.

She talked about what changed for her mentally in the final set.

“In the third set I said to myself I have to come out with strong shots, not a lot of mistakes and errors. I just played more aggressively opening up the court and I feel like thats what really gave me the win,” she said.

For her the victory felt great and she is now going to work on preparing herself to represent The Bahamas at the Billie Jean King Cup tournament next year.

The battle of the veterans ended with Newman earning bragging rights over Carey Jr yesterday. After winning back to back titles in 2015 and 2016, the 28-year-old secured his third crown in a three-setter. He got off to a slow start against his opponent and fell 2-6. However, something clicked in the second set as he steamrolled Carey Jr 6-0. With his opponent now on the ropes, Newman delivered the final blow to take it 6-1. “Its been a long week this is match number four. It started off a little slow Rodney was playing well at the start. I felt like it took me a little bit to kind of sink in today because it is day four at it but I picked it up from the start of the second set. I didn’t let the first set phase me and I just kept playing and competed,” he said.

Despite the physical toll endured at this week’s Giorgio Baldacci Open National Tennis Championships, the national champion was very proud of his efforts in the end.

“It feels great to win I am proud of myself I had a lot of adversity this week. Conditions were tough and I haven’t played that many tournaments lately so I just threw myself into it and I am happy,” he said.

Elana Mackey, last year’s defending champion, ended her tournament experience in third place after ousting Takaii Adderley in three sets. The match between the two lasted 3.5 hours. Adderley, the 2023 junior national champion, won 7-5 in set one. However, Mackey reeled off consecutive wins 6-3,6-2 to close out her opponent and the 2023 tennis year.