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 round-robin is over at the Under-14 Rogers Junior Nationals at West Vancouver’s Hollyburn Country Club.
Ontario’s Charlotte Petrick, the top-seed in the girls’ division, easily won all three of her matches to win Flight 1. Zoe Edger-Lcoursiere finished second in the flight with a 2-1 record while Ashley Zhu was third at 1-2 and Alberta’s Lara Stakic finished with three losses.
Nikki Carnovale won Flight 2 with a 3-0 record while Jasmine Godin was second at 2-1. Kyla Jarrar finished third at 1-2 while Brooklyn Legault was winless.
In Flight 3, Katarina Kopcalic took top-honours with a 3-0 record, Khadija Dumas Da-Silva was second at 2-1, Nina Erdevicki of B.C. finished third at 1-2 and winless Marian Assran brought up the rear.
Patrice Muamba of Quebec won Flight 4 with a 3-0 record, Grace Xu finished second at 2-1, Carly Hunter was third at 1-2 and Monica Greene failed to win a match.
Flight 5 had five players and Vanessa Wong won all four of her matches to finish first. Andrea Gu finished second, losing only to Wong while Marianne Gareau was third with two wins and a pair of losses, Layne Van Buskirk finished fourth with one win and Anne-Sophie Courteau was winless in four.
Stacey Fung went undefeated in four matches to win Flight 6 while Charlotte Robillard-Millette finished second with a 3-1 record. Tina Kreinis was third at 2-2, Benedicte Martin finished fourth at 1-3 while Cassie Chung finished fifth at 0-4.
In Flight 7, Eva Bachini went 4-0 to win, Rosie Johanson was second at 3-1, Alberta’s Maja Dragovic finished third with a 2-2 mark, Alberta’s Kirsten Prelle finished fourth at 1-3 and B.C.’s Alexandra Walker finished fifth at 0-4.
Finally, Flight 8 saw Marie-Alexandre Leduc win with a 4-0 record, Katherine Sebov finished second at 3-1, Alberta’s Claire Koke was third at 2-2, Alberta’s Kelsea Gorzo finished fourth at 1-3 and Cynthia Williams went 0-4 to finish fifth.
In girls’ doubles, top-seeds Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Marianne Gareau of Quebec advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ontario’s Tina Kreinis and Vanessa Wong. The B.C. pair of Kyla Jarrar and Alexandra Walker dumped Marian Assran of Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Cynthia Williams 6-1, 6-0 and play Leduc and Gareau in the quarters. Fourth-seeds Stacey Fung and Rosie Johanson of B.C. defeated Khadija Dumas Da-Silva and Brooklyn Legault of B.C. 6-0, 6-3 and take on Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Quebec and Katherine Sebov of Ontario in the quarters after Robillard-Millette and Sebov edged Alberta’s Maja Dragovic and Claire Koke 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-7.
On the bottom half of the draw, second-seeds, Nikki Carnovale and Charlotte Petrick of Ontario take on Quebec’s Benedicte Martin and Alberta’s Kirsten Prelle in one quarter-final while third-seeds Katarina Kopcalic of Ontario and Patricia Muamba of Quebec will play Quebec’s Eva Bachini and Zoe Edger-Lacoursiere.
Carnovale and Petrick defeated B.C.’s Cassie Chung and Andrea Gu 6-0, 6-2 in the round of 16, Prelle and Martin dumped Nina Erdevicki and Carley Hunter of B.C. 6-2, 6-4, Kopcalic and Muamba edged Ontario’s Grace Xu and Layne Van Buskirk 4-6, 6-1, 10-5 and Bachini and Edger-Lacoursiere beat Anne-Sophie Courteau and Jasmine Godin of Quebec 6-4, 6-4.
