Trey Mallory has received high praise from his coach after making local tennis history at the Curaçao Open.

Mallory, who trains at the L’Academie de Tennis in Florida, became Bermuda’s youngest player to acquire ITF Junior Circuit points after securing a hard-fought victory on centre court at the Curaçao Willemstad this week.

The 14-year-old came from behind against Xaveam M van Wijk, of Curaçao, to prevail 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 in a match spanning nearly three hours.

“The most important part of the match for me was how Trey was able to keep himself in the match,” said Andres Weisskop, the L’Academie de Tennis coach and former El Salvador Davis Cup player.

“He was very strong mentally and that’s what we look for in our players.

“No matter what’s going on in the match they stay focused and keep playing their game, so I was very happy how he held himself mentally.

“He remained strong even in the tough moments when he had a couple of set points that he couldn’t convert and he stayed into the set and the match.”

Weisskop was also impressed with Mallory’s physical endurance.

“Physically Trey is doing a great job because the match was over in two hours and 40 minutes and he was able to stay strong even when he was feeling tired in the third set,” he said.

“He was physically aware all of the time. Even when he was tired he was still going for his shots and using his forehand to hit the winners and try and get the point.

“He was opening the court a lot with his forehand and hitting his forehand inside, outside a lot and just looking for the open court and open space.

“With his backhand he was able to neutralise the power of the other kid and setting up again just to use his forehand.”

Mallory lost the opening set after struggling with his groundstrokes and rhythm but bounced back by winning the second set on a tie-breaker to even the match.

The promising youngster encountered less resistance from his opponent in the third and deciding set, which he also won to clinch the marathon match.

“Trey played with a little bit of hesitation with his groundstrokes in the first set and didn’t find his rhythm until the end of the set,” Weisskop added.

As for the nail-biting second set tie-breaker which Mallory came out on top, Weisskop said: “It’s one of the longest tie-breakers that I have ever seen with one of my players.”

Prior to Mallory’s win, Tyler Smith had been the youngest Bermudian to secure ITF Junior Circuit points. She did so at the age of 15. Mallory is making his second appearance on the ITF Junior Circuit in Curaçao.

The ITF Junior Circuit offers more than 400 tournaments in 121 different countries. Depending on the grade of tournament, players earn points toward the world rankings.