By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Team Bahamas, in overcoming its most difficult opponents, pulled off a 2-1 victory over Jamaica to snatch the top spot out of Group B of the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup American Zone III tie yesterday in Santa Tecla, El Salvador.

In another dominating performance in her opening singles for Team Bahamas, number two seed Simone Pratt blanked Jamaican Adeola Greatorex 6-0, 6-0 for her third straight whitewashing of her opponents.

Sydney Clarke, playing as the top seed for Team Bahamas, lost 2-6, 4-6 to Jamaica’s top 700 ATP ranked Najah Dawson for her first loss in singles so far.

But Clarke and Pratt teamed up for the second time in the tie and they pulled off a hard-fought 7-6 (5), 6-5 win over Dawson and Holly Reid to clinch the 2-1 victory for Team Bahamas.

Captain Kim O’Kelley, who has played in many matches in the past for The Bahamas, said what she saw yesterday was some “incredible” matches from Team Bahamas.

“Simone is 3-0 with 6-0, 6-0 victories. I have never seen that in my life,” said Kelley, who doesn’t recall if she ever blanked any of her opponents, much less three in a row for Pratt.

“It’s just amazing and the girl she played was good. She just played a solid match.”

As for Clarke, O’Kelley said it was tough for her playing an internationally-ranked player.

“The thing is, she had her chances,” said O’Kelley of Clarke, who played Dawson, who is pegged at 685. “She played a good match against her.”

In the doubles, O’Kelley said it was a nail-biter. In both sets, Clarke and Pratt were leading 4-1, but they had to dig down deep right at the end to pull it off.

Pratt, the oldest playing member of the team, was ecstatic about her feat.

“I don’t know how I keep doing it, but I had another 6-0, 6-0 score today, the third day in a row,” stated the southpaw. 

“That’s just God. That’s all I can say. 

“But Sydney had a really tough match. She had a girl that was ranked, but she gave it her best. 

In the doubles, it was very, very close, but we were able to pull it off.”

Clarke admitted that it was an emotional day for her and the team.

“We are happy with the way we performed,” said Clarke, the shortest member of Team Bahamas. 

“We were locked in and ready to fight.

“It was a long day, but we were so supportive of each other, cheering on and off the court. Simone played well and gave us a good start. I lost my singles, but I felt I had a lot of errors, some things I could have gotten away with in the other matches, but I couldn’t do it today.”

Clarke said despite losing the math, she felt she played well and she took some things from it that should help her in the future. 

She said she was glad that they were able to bounce back in the doubles to win it. 

She credited the support from Jalisa Clarke and Saphirre Ferguson - the other two members of Team Bahamas - to help pull them through the difficult moments they experienced.

Team Bahamas will now wait to see who they will play in the playoffs and a chance to get promoted to zone II for 2026. They will be one of three nations playing for two spots to get promoted.