Ricky Mallory III captured the Under-10 mixed singles title at the weekend’s Beat the Heat Tournament held at Lake Cane Tennis Centre in Orlando, Florida.The promising youngster, one of 15 youth players representing local charity Temple of Tennis at the United States Tennis Association sanctioned event, upstaged Scotland’s Matthew Rankin 4-0, 4-3 in the final to cap a memorable tournament.Mallory breezed through the opening set. But Rankin stormed back in the second with some powerful drives as Mallory’s defence was called upon to hold on at 3-3.An enthralling fourth and final game saw both players unleash their best. But Mallory eventually gained the upper hand at deuce and put the game beyond his rival’s reach with a passing shot to take the victory.“Young Mallory championed through his opponents, remaining calm and focused during many heated and controversial matches to take the highest award for the Under-10s,” commented Temple of Tennis vice-president/treasurer Michael Wolfe.En route to the final Mallory got past Canada’s Marcello Audino (4-1, 4-0) and compatriot Daniel Phillips (4-2, 4-3)..Others doing the Island proud in Florida were Evan Heyliger, MoZiah Seassie, Kiunah Outerbridge and Imani Phillips.Outerbridge and Selassi won the Under-14 girls and Under-12 boys singles consolation finals while Heyliger and Phillips finished runners-up in the Boys Under-12 singles and Under 10 mixed consolation finals respectively.Tego Bean also made his presence felt with an upset of fourth seed Alexey Timokhine in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) in the quarter-finals of the Boys Under-12 main draw.“Tego’s performance in defeating the number four seed in the main draw was definitely a top performance at a higher age level,” said Temple of Tennis director Sammy Maybury.Wolfe added: “Bean has swiftly risen to be one of the Temple’s top performers on this tour. After a year and a half absence in local competition, Bean anticipates continuing to make his mark on the local tennis scene over the remaining summer junior tournaments.”Bean eventually fell to second seed Colin Tavares of Florida (6-2, 6-3) in the semi-finals.The aim of sending a team to a well-attended tournament, played in sweltering conditions, was to give the young tennis player international exposure to further their development. And according to Maybury, every team member gained from the experience.“In all, seven of our children really shone while every child’s game improved to match the level of competition which was a level higher than they have ever seen,” he said. “And out of 15 children we came away with five awards.”The mission statement of the Temple of Tennis, that falls under the auspices of Port Royal Tennis Club, is “to provide a sustainable formula for tennis development from grassroots to the professional level.”