It was the perfect end for a royal celebration as Carlista Mohammed proved why she is deserving of the titles she currently holds after he singles victory at the Tranquillity Courts on Victoria Avenue Port-of-Spain on Monday.
Mohammed, who had already secured the doubles and mixed doubles titles with Cameron Wong and Nabeel Mohommed respectively at the Shell Tranquility Open Tournament which started in 2020, added the prestigious Women Singles title cementing her Triple Crown success.
The 30-year old who hails from St Augustine had to dig really deep as 15-year-old Ella Carrington capitalized on errors and made some big shots against her more experienced opponent.
The Bishop Anstey Port-of-Spain student held a 5-2 lead in the first set and was on the brink of a first set win. However, Carlista showed her championship metal, grit and experience. Shouting "every point earned" to motivate herself as she clawed her way back from the pangs of defeat, one point at a time every game to win the set 7-5.
The momentum was carried into the second set where she dispatched several game-winners with ease forgetting whatever trouble she had earlier in the contest to inched closer and closer to the ultimate success as she recorded a 6-3 win, and the mission was completed in straight sets.
After the match, she told Guardian Media Sports that Ella played really well and revealed which title meant the most to her and why.
She said: "Singles are always the hardest to get because you are out there by yourself fighting for every point against the opponent, against yourself sometimes. I guess with Doubles and Mixed Doubles you have a partner to motivate each other, but singles, I will always treasure because you have to do it yourself. "
In the Men's Singles semi-finals which were played simultaneously the number 1 seed, Nabeel Mohammed fell to the number 6 seed, Vaughn Wilson.
The Tobagonian had 22-year-old Mohammed chasing shadows in the first set as he stormed to a 6 -0 win. In the second set, Nabeel could only take one game from Wilson as the 28-year-old wrapped it up in fine style 6-1.
After the match, the Mohammed said: "Honestly, I did not play badly but Vaughn outplayed me today, he was the better person on the day, he played better."
It was some form of redemption for Wilson who said: "it feels good to accomplish this after losing twice to (Nabeel) at Nationals two years in a row once in the final and the other in the quarterfinals." He also said during this Covid-19 period he had more time to himself to train with his coach and that is what helped him. A mouthwatering men's final will be on offer today as he will take on his childhood friend and fellow Tobagonian Akiel Duke from 3 pm. Duke took care of 15-year-old Luca Shamsi who was on a Cinderella run in the tournament.
Shamsi defeated the 7th seed Dustan Denoon and the 4th seed Richard Chung to secure his semi-final spot. However, Duke who is the defending champ did not spare the rod and spoil the child, spanking him 6-0, 6-1 to try to make good on his title defence.
Shamsi noted that when playing these older opponents he needs to play smarter as the things he is comfortable with among the juniors, cannot be done at this level. Both Duke and Wilson who know each other's game very well said the best man on the day will win. Duke on the other hand said he has a special game plan which he did not want to reveal but once he executes it properly he will be crowned once again.