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Boyle boys progress in Carib tennis tourney

Billy Boyle will join Courtland Boyle in the main draw in the Under-16 division at the JITIC 2013 Tennis Tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.On Sunday, the final day of round robin play, Billy Boyle had a straight sets victory over Andrew Bicknell of Jamaica to join Courtland who qualified the day before.“Billy was a lot sharper in all areas of his game today,” said coach Jerome Bradshaw. “He went for his favourite shots as usual and made a number of winners, but the key factors was limiting his errors.”Nicolas Lines added a measure of respect to his play by winning his final round robin match, going three sets to beat Dylan Walker of the Bahamas who mounted a comeback to take the second set by taking to the net on numerous occasions.“Mysteriously he did not continue it in the final set and this was his downfall as Nick was clearly the more steady player from the backcourt,” said Bradshaw.The lone loss for the Under-16 team came with Courtland Boyle going down in straight sets to the higher ranked player in the group, Armando Gandini, of the host country.The main draw matches begin this morning, while the consolation division will begin tomorrow.The consolation will be hotly contested as well with the first-round losers from the main draw being inserted into the consolation group.Doubles matches are also expected on the schedule for today, though the draw was yet finalised yesterday.Courtland and Billy Boyle will represent Bermuda in doubles play.The Bermuda Under-16s had two singles matches in the round robin on Saturday as the players were placed in separate pools of four, leaving them to play three matches.The top two players from each group will go to the main draw. The bottom two players will finish out the week in the consolation draw.Courtland Boyle turned in the best results, winning both his matches in straight sets to advance to the main draw. Nicholas Lines was on the losing end of both his matches and missed qualifying for the main draw, though he has vowed to win the consolation event.The fate of Billy Boyle was still in doubt after the opening day when he finished with a win and a loss, both matches going three sets. He sealed his place in the main draw yesterday by winning his final group match.The Under-14’s played their opening round robin matches at the Dominican National Centre on Saturday with Luke Stirling splitting his first two matches, Dylan Powell went down in his two matches while the other team member, Ben Lines, competing for the first time in this region, was on the losing end of that result.Bradshaw is coaching the Under-16s and Romar Douglas the Under 14s.The annual tournament showcases developing talent from the Americas, Caribbean and Central American region and runs until August 9.The Bermuda team return home on Saturday.