Junior tennis players Rasheed Carey and Simone Pratt were both eliminated from play at the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) grade one junior tournament, in Ecuador.
The Bahamian duo received first-round byes in their respective divisions, but were unsuccessful in their bids to advance to the third round in both genders. Pratt was eliminated in the second round by Olga Fridman of Ukraine, the tournament's number four seed. She lost, 6-4 and 6-2. Carey opened up the tournament against Eduardo Lacalle of China, and he lost that match, 6-1 and 6-1.
Pratt and Constanza Gorches was the seventh seed in girls' doubles. The pair was eliminated by Nicole Frenkel and Ellyse Hamlin, 6-0 and 6-4. Carey and Laurens Verbovenmet went up against Pedro Iamachkine and Ayed Zatar in the second round of boys' doubles. The match was won by Iamachkine and Zatar, 6-2 and 6-3.
Phillip Major's bid to play in the main draw for boys' singles was stopped by Keshav Vellodi who captured one of the fourth spots with a 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3 win.
The Ecuador ITF tournament, still going on at the Ecuador Guayaquil Club, was the fourth stop on the ITF Grand Slam COSAT U18 Circuit for Pratt and Carey. So far, players on the tour have competed in the Copa Gatorade held in Caracas, Venezuela, the Copa Barranquilla, held in Barranquilla, Colombia and the 50th Coffee Bowl held in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Pratt and Carey were selected to represent The Bahamas and the Central American and Caribbean Tennis Federation (COTECC) region on the tour.
Carey has moved up five spots in the ranking for junior girls, since playing on the tour. He is slotted at number 164 in the world, having earned 186.2 points so far on the year. Pratt is up one spot, sitting in at 149 with 233.75 points. Carey and Pratt are the top junior male and female players in the country and have played on numerous national teams.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian