Bermuda under-14 boys coach Evan Heyliger has commended his players for the manner in which they approached matches in their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Honduras in the main draw of the ITF World Junior Tennis North Central America & Caribbean prequalifying in Dominican Republic on Thursday.

Coming up against No 2 seeds Honduras after finishing second in group A, Bermuda’s youngsters left it all on the court. Bermuda will now face Costa Rica in a play-off on Friday to determine where they finish in the top eight when the competition concludes on Saturday.

“We had a good day of competition even though we lost,” Heyliger said.

“We’re playing tougher matches now as we’re playing for places until we finish on Saturday after doing well in the group stage. There’ll be a lot of experiences, every player has a lot of work to do from now until Saturday, and they’re excited to get it done.”

Manuel Maldonado was the first to take to the court against Fabian Kafati, with the Honduran triumphant 6-0, 6-1. His brother Raul had a chance to bring Heyliger's side back into contention when he squared off with Christofer Nunez, but he too came out second best, with his opponent winning 6-0, 6-0.

Raul Maldonado combined with Trystan Thompson for the doubles fixture, and they could not get the consolation as they were bested 6-3, 6-1 by Kafati and Rene Romero.

“Manuel was very positive throughout the match,’’ the coach said. “He tried his best right up to the last, and it was the most exciting match he’s played because he’s never played anyone close to that level.

“Playing these kinds of matches is really going to be good for him when he’s playing in the under-12 later on this year, and the under-14 next year. He’s leaving very motivated to train and become better.

“It was a similar story with Raul. He realised that he was playing against one of the best players in the Americas, so he took lessons from the match and tried his best, and was motivated to train harder.

“We had our best result in the doubles in terms of score. Our two 11-year-olds played against Honduran older boys and for them to get that many games against that level of opponents was fantastic.

“They implemented the instructions and made adjustments on their own. They were very mature throughout in maintaining the positive spirit and competing right up until the end.

“If these two boys represent Bermuda in the under-12 as a doubles team this summer, they’ll be a formidable partnership.”