Bermuda wrapped up the group phase of the International Tennis Federation/Central American and Caribbean Tennis Confederation Under-12 tournament in emphatic fashion with a 3-0 victory over St Lucia in the Dominican Republic yesterday.

Building on the momentum of a comfortable 3-0 success over Trinidad & Tobago a day previously, Dexter Snaith got Bermuda off to the perfect start in his debut appearance in the singles tournament, with a straight sets 6-0, 6-1 victory over Denney Estava.

“I felt like it was an all around good match from me,” said Snaith. “I worked on a few things and managed to hold dominance throughout the match which was good.”

There was also joy for Tristan Pettit who responded from a sluggish start to secure a comfortable victory over Ahlil Cyril, prevailing 6-3, 6-1 to double Bermuda’s advantage.

“Overall I felt I played quite well,” Pettit said. “I started off a little badly and dropped two games but then I found my range and didn’t make many errors.

“After that, I became more confident and I managed to take the second set a bit more easily.”

Refusing to rest on their laurels, Snaith joined forces with Jaden Jones in the doubles, where they were made to fight hard for their victory, battling back from a set down to ultimately prevail against Cyril and Peter Murray in a 6-7, 6-2, 10-5 success.

“We were sloppy in the first set and made a lot of errors,” said Jones. “But in the second set we played to our ability and took the set before going on and winning the tie-break in the last set.”

A third out of four matches ensured Bermuda finished in second place in pool A behind Dominican Republic I, and in doing so book their progression through to the next phase of the tournament where they will meet Guyana today.

“The boys did brilliantly in staying focused to secure victory over St Lucia and solidify that second-place spot in pool A,” said coach Gavin Manders, who has backed his side to go on and secure promotion to the next stage with victory over Guyana.

“We now have a chance of gaining promotion against Guyana. We’ve been checking them out all week and I like our chances. They have players who will fight really hard but the boys are ready.

“It’s a great opportunity for these guys to be able to play for promotion. The next stage up is an extremely high level but what an incredible opportunity to be able to come out here, put their skills to the test and put themselves in a position to be challenging for promotion.”