Trey Mallory was disappointed to let a one-set lead slip on his way to being knocked out in the M15 tennis tournament being held on island.

Mallory won the first set 6-1 at the WER Joell Stadium and was a break up in the second set before a huge momentum shift allowed 18-year-old Carel Ngounoue, an American of Cameroonian descent, to fight back and take the second set 6-3 and the deciding set 6-4.

Anybody leaving after the first 45 minutes of the match would have been hard pressed to predict the comeback, with Mallory dominant on his serve and his opponent making plenty of unforced errors.

After the match, Mallory spoke about his disappointment at letting a winning chance slide in a professional tournament.

“I started off well and then just a couple of changes in the second set as he started playing better and I started losing focus,” Mallory said.

“That’s what decided the whole match. By the time he was starting to get on fire, it was tough for me to keep up with him. I don't think I played bad or my best but it was a good match.

“I didn’t know much about my opponent but he’s a good player and obviously I wanted to win. It could have gone either way and I think he handled the circumstances just a bit better today.”

Despite letting the lead slip Mallory showed heart to come close to producing a stirring fightback in the final set but he will be working on his mentality going forward.

“It’s something I need to work on,” he said. “I started missing a lot of first serves and I think that really affected me. It was tough to get back my momentum that I had for the first set.

“I just didn't have enough time to turn it around in the third set. I started playing a bit better when I was down 4-1, 5-2 but that is too late. At this level, if you’re down two breaks, it’s tough to bring it back around.”

For his part Ngounoue admitted to nerves at the start and finish of the game.

“It wasn’t my best showing of tennis,” Ngounoue said. I started off pretty slow, had trouble getting a rhythm, but I think that’s a lot of what tennis is about, just fighting back and adapting, even when things aren’t going your way and finding ways to win.

“It’s always a little bit nervous when you’ve got to finish it on your racket as the opponent’s just not going to give it to you, so I was able to put it together eventually.”

The teenager has decided to forgo a college career and concentrate on forging a career in the professional ranks.

“I graduated high school and I’m not looking at college at the moment,” he said.

“I’m trying to just go the pro route and starting off pro tennis, you can’t really set the highest expectations. You’ve got to focus on what you can control, which is your attitude and the way that you want to play.”