American Michael Samara lunges for a volley on his way to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jamaica's Dominic Pagon in the semi-finals of the Cable & Wireless/ITF International Junior Tournament at the Liguanea Club, New Kingston yesterday. -Junior Dowie photoTym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport
FIFTEEN-YEAR-old Dominic Pagon's dream run at the Cable & Wireless/ITF Junior International Tournament came to end in yesterday's semi-finals of the Boys 18 and under singles at the Liguanea Club, New Kingston.
The bespectacled, wild-card left-hander, who sliced through the draw and upset No. 1 seed Christopher Eldon of the Bahamas in the quarter-finals, finally met his match yesterday and fell 6-4, 6-0 to 17-year-old American Michael Samara.
No. 3 seed Samara will now meet Chilean 10th seed Felipe Villasenor, who routed Panama's David Lopez 6-0, 6-0 in the other semi-final, in the final this morning.
Although Pagon has been eliminated, there will still be Jamaican interest in the final as Samara's mother is Jamaican and he looms as a potential Davis Cup prospect for the island.
Pagon started brightly on another typically hot day and broke Samara in the third game of the first set but his three matches the previous day (two doubles and a singles) began to show and he had few answers for the balanced power-hitting of Samara. The American got back on serve in the sixth game and broke again with a backhand winner down the line to claim the first set 6-4.
The second set was painfully one-sided as Samara continued to build momentum behind a strong serve and powerful ground strokes.
PHYSICAL ABILITY
"My game plan was to use my physical ability against him because he's a little bit smaller but he's a lefty which made things a bit difficult early," Samara said after the win. "His serve wasn't strong but it's deceptive because it breaks differently than a righty so it threw my timing in the first set."
Based in Sarasota, Florida, Samara said he would be more than willing to represent Jamaica in Davis Cup competition.
"I want to. Maybe next year," he said. "I staying with Douglas Burke (national coach) and we have been talking about it."
For his part, Pagon said he exceeded his expectations at the tournament and now just wants to build on the experience.
"My goal was to make the quarter-finals and when I got to them I didn't think I could beat the No. 1 player ... just get a good match.
"Today, I was just really tired from yesterday's matches. I played three matches and eight sets," said Pagon who has advanced to today's Boys 18 doubles final with Rayne Russell.
In the girls' 18 section, top seeded Ellah Nze accounted for Mexico's Laura Hernandes 6-3, 6-3 and will meet hard-hitting Canadian Eunice David in the final which starts at 10:00 a.m today.
David out-slugged American Alexis Dorr 6-3, 6-3.
The Boys' 14 singles final will pit Jamaicans Christopher Lawson and Marlon Downer against each other while the Boys' 12 showdown features Cameron Stafford of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica's Brandon Burke.
