THE Guernsey men’s tennis side lived up to the hype as they took gold in the team event in emphatic style last evening. In front of a large contingent of Guernsey supporters, Dom McLuskey and Pat Ogier took care of the strong Bermudan duo of Andy Bray and Jenson Bascome.
On the strength of their performance at the alternative Island Games tennis event in Gibraltar two years ago, the greens went to Rhodes as the top seeds.
They backed this up as Ogier beat Bascombe 6-2, 6-4, while 17-year-old McLuskey produced a tremendous effort to overcome Bray 7-5, 7-6.
‘I feel amazing, I’m so pleased for the team,’ said McLuskey. ‘I wanted to win it for them. The crowd was amazing, they pulled me through.’
To get to the final, McLuskey, who is in the form of his life, defeated top seed Eduardo Torres, of the Cayman Islands, 6-4, 6-0, in the semi-finals.
He beat Bray in the semi-finals of the Gibraltar tournament and each player held serve until McLuskey broke the Bermudan’s to make it 4-3.
But he was broken back immediately and Bray held his serve to move to
5-4.
But this was the last game Br ay was to win in the set.
On the next court, after an epic first game that went on for more than 15 minutes, Ogier overpowered Bascombe who liked to use deft drop shots and lobs, to take the set 6-2. The second set saw Ogier take his foot off the pedal and Bascombe won the first three games.
But Ogier regained the momentum to win the rubber 6-4.
‘It was a bit of a loss of concentration,’ he said.
‘He’s obviously fit as he’s used to playing in the heat a lot more. I struggled to put him away and I was finding it difficult not to watch Dom’s match.’
McLuskey also found himself down three games in the second before he broke Bray’s serve.
The Guernsey number one, geed on by the crowd, made it four-all.
There was a lot of pumping of fists from McLuskey that stirred up the supporters as they competed in noise stakes with the Bermudan contingent.
But McLuskey started to have problems with his quads. In obvious discomfort, he required a medical time out and some ice treatment from Guernsey physio Pete Lawlor.
McLuskey battled on.
‘When I was 4-3 down and serving, I couldn’t push off, but managed to get through,’ he said.
Now moving with greater ease, McLuskey saw Bray step 6-5 ahead. But the Guernsey player produced the goods to make it six-all and a tie-break.
With the tension almost unbearable, he won this
7-3 to seal the gold.
‘It’s just amazing, the best final ever,’ said captain Chris Hickling.
* The young women’s side was knocked out in the opening round by the Isle of Man.
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