By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

FOUR champions got a perfect start to their year at the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s (BLTA) under-14 and under-16 New Year’s tournament hosted at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) over the weekend.

Briana Houlgrave and Breann Ferguson earned bragging rights for the U14 and U16 divisions respectively in girls’ singles action.

Meanwhile, Patrick Mactaggart and William McCartney got the job done for the boys’ singles in the U14 and U16 categories.

Houlgrave, who won last year’s U14 girls division, got the victory once again at the New Year’s Tournament against the second ranked Caitlyn Pratt.

The first seeded Houlgrave made it look easy when she took down her opponent 6-1,6-1 on Sunday at the NTC. The 13-year-old, who is playing her final year in the U14 age group, described the matchup as a good experience but said there are still improvements to be made to her game as the season progresses.

“Considering that this is my last year of under-14 I feel pretty good. I am looking to see a few more wins than last year. Last year was a bit rough but I hope that I can do better this year. When I was playing I saw a lot of stuff I needed to work on so I will definitely take that into consideration leading up to the next tournament,” she said.

The U14 girls champion was also delighted to play against her teammate for the World Juniors Boys and Girls 14-and under Tournament set for March 2-10 in El Salvador.

Ferguson, who came into the U16 matchup as the fourth seed, upset Millie Beukes, the third seed, in their finals matchup. The 16-year-old had a stellar showing in the initial set, winning 6-3. However, Beukes showed signs of life in the following set and had her opponent on the ropes 5-3. Despite a valiant effort by Beukes, Ferguson was able to regain her footing in the match and gutted out a 7-5 victory to become the U16 victor at the New Year’s tourney.

For the newest champion, it felt great to pull off a gritty win on Sunday.

“It feels amazing I have been working all year to pull off a win and this is just the beginning because I want to keep doing this over and over again as long as I can,” she said.

Although she got the comeback victory she acknowledged that it was not easy and it will not get easier going forward.

“It was good but it was challenging which I think I needed. It caused me to think a lot. I never knew that I could come back from being down in the second set. It feels good but just because I got this win does not mean the next one will be easier, it is going to be way harder so I am gonna keep working,” the champion said.

In a matchup between the first and second ranked players, it was Mactaggart who downed Synaj Watkins in straight sets to repeat as the U14 boys singles champion. Mactaggart coasted to a 6-0, 6-0 victory to add yet another U14 trophy to his collection.

The 13-year-old, who also played in the U16 category, was impressed with his level of play.

“I thought I played very well. I think that this morning I was more consistent. I got more balls on the court and I did not miss as much. It feels excellent, hopefully next time I will come out and be stronger and do better,” Mactaggart said.

McCartney finished as a runner up in the U16 division last year, but this time around he upgraded his position. After losing to Jackson Mactaggart in 2023, McCartney got revenge on his younger brother in consecutive sets one year later. He knocked off his competitor 6-4,6-3 to hoist this year’s championship hardware.

The junior was happy to get the winning honours but felt he made a lot of mistakes on the court.

“The match was good but I felt like I could have made less errors but overall it was good competition. I feel like I should have a strong year because I am doing a lot more training so it should be good this year. I am looking to see much more improvement in my game,” McCartney said.

Next up on the BLTA calendar will be the Bahama Pure Water & Ice Junior National Tournament to be hosted in Grand Bahama February 10-13.