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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The Under-18 boys’ doubles final at the Rogers Jr. Nationals in Toronto will pit the two top-ranked teams against each other at the Mayfair Parkway Racquet Club on Friday.
Top-seeds Filip Peliwo of B.C. and Roman Trkulja of Ontario will face the second-seeded Quebec pair of Samuel Monette and Hugo Di Feo in the championship match.
Peliwo and Trkulja defeated sixth-seeds Filip Obucina and Brayden Schnur of Ontario 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals on Thursday. Monette and Di Feo took out fifth-seeds Francis Bertrand and Damien David of Quebec 6-2, 6-3 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
The unseeded pair of Michelle Dandik and Catherine Parenteau-St-Antoine will take on second-seeds Elianne Douglas-Miron and Kimberley-Ann Surin in Friday’s girls’ doubles final. Dandik and Parenteau-St-Antoine defeated sixth-seeds Catherine Leduc and Laurence Pelchat of Quebec 6-4, 6-3 in Thursday’s semifinals while Douglas-Miron and Surin blasted fourth-seeds Nada Marjanovic and Aissa Muamba 6-1, 6-0 in the other semi.
After a day off on Thursday, singles action resumes on Friday with the semifinals in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions.
Boys’ top seed Peliwo takes on 10th seed Daniel Bednarczyk in one semifinal while doubles partners Monette, the second-seed, and Di Feo, seeded third, battle in the other.
On the girls’ side, top-seed Francoise Abanda of Quebec takes on fourth-seeded Ontarian Amy He in one semifinal while second-seed Kimberley-Ann Surin of Quebec will battle seventh-seed Nikolette Budai of Ontario in the other.
