After witnessing defeat in the Men’s Open Singles quarter-finals against his coach, Heimraj Resaul was destined to make a name for himself in the Boy’s Open Singles final at the GBTI Independence Jubilee Open as he competed against Keenan Persaud.
Resaul’s powerful serves and topspin ground strokes awarded him a break in at 2-0, after breaking and holding serve. Serving down two games, Persaud repeated his rival’s trend by holding and breaking serve to even at games at 2-2. Resaul sought to hinder Persaud’s resurgence by securing his service game to lead at 3-2.
Unfortunately, there was no stopping the Persaud train, as his rallies forced Resaul to make on-force errors, enabling him to secure four consecutive games to capture the set at 6-3.
Eager to cause a rift in the match after witnessing Persaud’s remarkable rise to a first set victory, Resaul altered his technique to take on his opponent.
At advantage of 3-1, Resaul denied Persaud the opportunity to gain traction in the set by breaking service to rise to a 4-1 lead. Persaud’s visibly frustrated demeanor was the perfect storm for Resaul to use to his advantage, whisking away the two games needed to hold the set at 6-1.
Resaul was fuelled to perform at his utmost after losing in the Boy’s Open final of the GBTI sponsored tournament just a year ago to Mark McDonald in a close three set match of 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. His family’s support, and motivation from peers, empowered him to pull a third set at 6-1. At game set match, Heimraj Resaul was crowned Boy’s Open Singles champion at 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 against Keenan Persaud.
