Bermuda’s Trey Mallory and his doubles partner Matthew Doe have advanced to today’s semi-finals of the Bermuda ITF Junior Open.

Mallory and Doe, of Britain, enjoyed a 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 upset over No 2 seeds Phillippe Mercelina, of the Netherlands, and Juan Jose Vega Lebrija, of Mexico, yesterday.

The second, third and fourth seeds in the men’s doubles all crashed out, leaving top seeds Spencer Brachman and Jeffrey Fradkin, of the United States, as the only seeds still in the last four.

Brachman and Fradkin beat Bermuda’s Scott Redmond and Tariq Simons 6-4, 6-1, with the local pair battling back from 5-1 down in the first set before their opponents took control in the second set. Mallory and Doe have avoided the top seeds in today’s semi-finals where they will meet another unseeded pair, Sebastien Collard of Canada and William Kasten of the US at 1pm, who beat fourth seeds Mark Dancuart and Samuel Reichbach 6-3, 6-4.

Brachman and Fradkin will play Christopher Heck and Ellis Short — another Canada-US pairing — in the other semi-final after their 6-2, 6-1 upset of Russell Armstrong, of the US Virgin Islands, and John Chin, of Jamaica, the No 3 seeds.

“It was an exciting doubles match for Matthew and I,” Mallory said. “We play well together; Matthew has a great touch around the net, so with my power I think we complement each other.

“We had a good start, winning the first set but then got a bit complacent in the second, getting down two breaks and ended up losing. In the match tie-breaker, we were going toe to toe with some great rallies back and forth. At 5-5 we managed to get a mini break and went on to win the tie-breaker.”

The tournament has been good exposure for Mallory, Redmond and Simons who were all members of the Bermuda’s Junior Davis Cup team that competed in El Salvador in March 2017.

Shelby Madeiros, of Bermuda, was also in action yesterday, losing in the doubles with partner Suzuki Sakurako, of Japan, to Nicole Kiefer, of the US, and Shirley Laing, of Canada, the No 1 seeds, 6-0, 6-1.

Simons, who returned to Bermuda in May after living in Jamaica for almost seven years, has relished playing in the tournament this week. He lost in the second round of the singles to Fradkin 6-2, 6-1 before suffering defeat to Fradkin in the doubles yesterday.

“It’s nice being back; it’s different from the number of people that I would see every day,” said the 17-year-old, who was born in Bermuda.

“The tennis level here is good but there aren’t enough players. In Jamaica, there would be a lot more. I lived in Montego Bay but did go to Kingston for tournaments once or twice a month.

“My tennis has developed a lot. When I left Bermuda, I was so small and weak. I’m stronger and fitter now and can play a lot better, but I still have a lot to learn. I left here to go to the US in early July and came back in September. I played a few tournaments and had a different type of training.”

The tournament features junior players from 22 countries, including the US, Canada, Britain, Italy, China, Japan, Jamaica and Mexico, providing good competition for the local players.

“I appreciate the opportunities I get with these ITF tournaments, with players from all around the world,” Simons said.

“Last year, playing in the Junior Davis Cup with Trey and Scott was one of the highlights of my year. I had a great time and got to represent my country. I regret that it was my first and last time since I was already 16, but now I look forward to regular Davis Cup.”

Redmond, also 17 and a pupil at Warwick Academy, is representing Britain in the tournament. When he turns 18 he said he will apply for a Bermudian passport.

“One of my parents is from Scotland and the other from Ireland but my dad recently got status and we’re in the process of getting Bermudian passports,” explained Redmond, who was born in Bermuda.

“In the Junior Davis Cup, I was able to represent Bermuda. I enjoy playing against competition who are better than me. We played the No 1 seeds but we gave it our all. They were more experienced. It’s a good tournament, but I need to travel more to get more ITF points.”

Madeiros, who travelled to Ecuador in July for the Fed Cup, is in her first year at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where she is developing her tennis.

“Coming to an ITF Tournament like this you have some high-quality players, so it’s a challenge coming back from the tennis academy where I have only been for a couple of months,” said the 15-year-old.

“I’m trying to work on a few things in my game, which I feel I was able to execute well.

“The academy is going really well. It is a really good fit for me. My [doubles] partner and I go to the same school but this was the first time for us playing doubles together.”

Ricky Mallory, the Bermuda tennis director whose son, Trey, is also in school in Florida, said the tournament provided local players with an opportunity test themselves against quality opposition.

“This is the major reason why we host this event; our players don’t get the exposure,” Mallory said.

“Tennis is an expensive sport; this is basically a professional junior circuit but the only difference is they don’t get paid.

“Either we have major funds coming in that’s going to pay for these guys to travel around the world or we have to have more events like this, bring the people here.”

Mallory added: “Tariq, is a nice young man; his parents have done a good job with him. We’ve been trying to get Tariq [to play for us] for the past few years.

“When he represented us in Davis Cup, he was still living in Jamaica.

“He and Scott are now aiming for senior Davis Cup. Shelby has only been at IMG for two months, but I can see her game developing too.”