Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

FLORIDA-BASED Jamaican, Simone Vranov-Brown, missed out on a spot in the ITF Jamaica Junior Championships semi-final round when she lost in straight sets to second-seeded Danielle Mills at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, yesterday.

Fifteen-year-old Brown, the last Jamaican in the singles draw, struggled valiantly against her more experienced opponent, but still went down 2-6, 3-6 to the American.

On serve in the first set, the lanky left-handed Mills came up with a crucial break in the third game to immediately put the Jamaican on the back foot.

Mills, who got knocked out of the Wimbledon junior qualifying draw last month, managed to continue to force errors from Brown and did a good job of varying her shot selection.

Unforced errors

Meanwhile, Brown netted a couple of unforced errors, and, struggling with her serve, saw Mills secure another break for a 5-2 lead before the visitor successfully served for the first set.

Mills, who also did an excellent job of hanging in points which looked to be lost causes, picked up where she left off in the second set, breaking Brown in the first game. Another break and a hold saw the American stretch the lead to 4-0 before Brown held to get on the board.

The bustling Jamaican then began to force the errors from Mills for a break of her own and then held again for 4-3. Brown then had a look at two break points to level the match, but gutsy shot play from Mills saw her eventually close out the lengthy game before breaking Brown again to win the match.

In other games yesterday, top-seed Francesca Segarelli of the Dominican Republic eased past American, Hanna Berner, 6-2, 6-3, while Canada's Sara Lazarevic defeated Jessica Pegula, of the U.S., who was unable to continue with the score tied at 1-1.

Six-seed Ann Mulholland (U.S.) also put up an impressive showing and blasted her way into the semi-finals with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Jordane Dobbins, of Great Britain.

In the men's draw, top-seed Alex Llompart of Puerto Rico had to battled for three hours to overcome Venezuela's David Souto 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. Also booking their place in the semi-finals were Michael Davis of Great Britain, who beat Nicholas Bacchus 6-4, 6-2; Jason Zafiros, who defeated Juan Quiroz 6-3, 7-5; and Mexico's Santiago Nieto, who got by Uriel Quendo, of Colombia, 7-6, 6-4.