Christopher Simnett: Abanda Walks into Girls’ U18 National Final Four

Written by: Christopher Simnett

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***Chris grew up playing tennis in B.C. and was ranked as high as No. 2 provincially in the U12 and U16 divisions. He played in two junior national championships in the 80s. Now 39 years old, he is the “community champion” for the Tennis Canada Building Tennis Communities strategy in Airdrie, AB, where he lives with his wife and eight-year-old son. Chris spent 15 years as a journalist writing about sports for newspapers in B.C. and Alberta. He now works in public relations in Calgary. To learn more about Chris and his blog, please visit www.alltennis.ca***

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Top-seed Francoise Abanda of Quebec had the easiest possible route to the semifinals of the girls’ Under-18 Rogers Jr. Nationals with a walkover win over fifth-seed Evangeline Repic of Ontario on Wednesday.

Abanda will take the extra day of rest into her semifinal with Ontario’s Amy He on Friday at Toronto’s Mayfair Parkway Club. He edged ninth-seed Solomiya Zinko 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2 in Wednesday’s quarter-finals.

Second-seed Kimberley-Ann Surin of Quebec defeated Erin Routliffe of Ontario, last week’s Under-16 champion, 6-3, 6-3 in another quarter-final on Wednesday. Surin will play Ontario’s Nikolette Budai in Thursday’s semis after Budai was a a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Quebec’s Catherine Leduc on Wednesday.

In doubles, the top-seeded pair of Evangeline Repic and Erin Routliffe had to pull out of the tournament, so the unseeded Quebec pair of Michelle Dandik and Catherine Parenteau-St-Antoine advanced to the semifinals by walkover. They will play sixth-seeds Catherine Leduc and Laurence Pelchat of Quebec in Thursday’s semis. Leduc and Pelchat defeated third-seeds Gloria Liang and Solomiya Zinko of Ontario 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 on Wednesday.

Thursday’s other semi will see second-seeds Elianne Douglas-Miron and Kimberley-Ann Surin of Quebec take on Nada Marjanovic of Ontario and Aissa Muamba of Quebec.

Douglas-Miron and Surin defeated unseeded Albertans Jena Cheng and Mikaela Bennett 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday while Marjanovic and Muamba beat fifth-seeds Joan Cannon and Amy He of Ontario 6-4, 6-2.

April 6, 2011

College Tennis Alumni at the 2021 Australian Open – Part 1: Men’s Singles by Michal Kokta

February 23, 2021

With the first Grand Slam of the year winding down, I wanted to do a little introduction to the main draw players, who competed on the collegiate level before turning pro. This will be a short series of four parts: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, and women’s doubles.

Week at Wilson – Interview with Pierre Lamarche

February 11, 2021

Interview by Blair Rickers, Wilson Sports This week we interview Pierre Lamarche whose career in tennis spans close to 70 years. Canadian Junior and National

A deeper dive into second serve statistics

December 13, 2020

The two most widely reported second serve statistics in professional tennis are the number of double faults a player hit, and their second serve winning percentage. If we’re trying to understand the effectiveness of a particular player’s second serve, relying only on those statistics has significant drawbacks. Article by Michal Kokta.

Yves Boulais: No Excuses… Get Working

March 21, 2020

Yves was proud to work with players including Greg Rudsedski, Patricia Hy, Oliver Marach, Eugenie Bouchard and Rebecca Marino, who achieved excellent results on the world stage. He was an Olympic Coach in Barcelona 1992 & Atlanta 1996, and Captain of the Canadian FedCup Team 1998 – 2000.

Week at Wilson – Interview with Pierre Lamarche

February 11, 2021

Interview by Blair Rickers, Wilson Sports This week we interview Pierre Lamarche whose career in tennis spans close to 70 years. Canadian Junior and National

Update on UK Tennis Situation with Master Louis Cayer

March 25, 2020

I would like to share a mindset I instil in all the players I coach, one I believe has greatly influenced all of the player’s performances; “whatever happens, I can handle it.” This mindset is achieved through a systematic, tactical development process, so that whoever the opponent, whatever the surface, regardless of the environment, or scoring, the players can, and will rise to the challenge as it is presented.