Andy Bray maintained his utter domination of local men’s tennis over the weekend when he claimed the Vitamin Water Open — his second major title of the year — by beating the pony-tailed Jacob Trott in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.

But while the outcome of the men’s A final was entirely predictable, it was the top two ladies in the tournament who provided the sparse crowd with the most intriguing encounter on a hot and humid finals day at the WER Joell Tennis Stadium.

Young Zara DeSilva has seen little tennis recently because of injury, with the University of South Carolina graduate’s entry into the tournament representing a return to competitive tennis after a break of roughly two years.

The extended lay-off didn’t seem to have affected her overall fitness, however, as she outlasted the talented Englishwoman Leonie MacLouglin in an entertaining three-set match — coming from one set down to eventually claim the title 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Using her powerful forehand to good effect, MacLouglin looked by far the more accomplished player in the first set and anybody watching from the sidelines could have been forgiven for assuming that she would wrap the match up with little trouble.

But as lunchtime approached and the heat began to soar, MacLouglin appeared to tire slightly as a determined and athletic DeSilva continued to get a lot of balls back, forcing her opponent into a series of long rallies.

After narrowly taking the second set thanks to one break of serve, DeSilva broke MacLouglin again at 4-all in the decider to serve for the match.

She failed to convert the opportunity at the first time of asking as MacLoughin broke back immediately, but after securing a second consecutive break straight after in the 11th game of the set, she then had her exhausted rival exactly where she wanted her.

“After being out for so long my main aim here was just to enjoy myself,” said DeSilva afterwards.

“Leonie’s a great player and put me under a lot of pressure in the first set, but I gradually managed to get back into the match. This is really my first competitive game in around two years since I got injured so to win it gives me a lot of confidence ahead of the Island Games (this July in Rhodes, Greece).

“There have been times in the past two years where I didn’t really know whether I wanted to pick up a racquet again, but I’m now glad I entered the tournament and hopefully I can carry on improving from here.”

Bray, meanwhile, went into his encounter against Trott having not dropped a set once again en route to the final and barring injury or Armageddon, looks certain to go on and claim his second consecutive domestic Grand Slam.

In the absence of former leading rival James Collieson, who has now made coaching his priority, Bray is rarely, if ever, stretched by any local player these days and though he played as well as he had to against Jacob, the barrel-chested Englishman never once looked to be extending himself unduly during the hour or so he spent on court.

Trott owed his place in the final to the withdrawal of former Island number one Michael Way in the semis, with the veteran unable to continue when leading 4-2 in the first set of their encounter on Friday evening.

And while there was certainly no shortage of effort from Trott as he worked tirelessly to stay in the rallies, Bray’s meaty groundstrokes — particularly from the forehand side — were just too hot for him to handle.