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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Calgary’s Denis Simsek dominated the field at the Filomena Open at the Tennis Academy April 7-10, losing just 14 games in five matches.

Simsek, the top seed, defeated sixth-seed Rene Simon of Sylvan Lake 6-2, 6-2 in the championship match on April 10. Earlier, Simsek defeated Red Deer’s Manuel Garcia 6-2, 6-0 in the first-round, beat Mihai Oprescu 6-1, 6-1 in the round of 16, defeated Red Deer’s Mark Hamill 6-1, 6-2 in the quarter-finals and crushed Alex Ferrer 6-2, 6-1 in the semis.

Simon had an impressive run to the finals, defeating Zachary Zenith 6-1, 6-1 in the first round, edging Bruce Graham 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 16, defeating second-seed Jordi Escarrabill Vilanova 6-1, 3-0 ret. in the quarters and getting past Jimmy Le 6-1, 6-0 in the semis.

Simon and Mark Hamill teamed to win the doubles title. The second-seeds defeated third-seeds Stan Mystek and Alex Ferrer 6-1, 6-1 in the championship match.

Unseeded junior Matthew Dahl had a breakout weekend, winning the men’s 4.0 singles title at the event. Dahl defeated Osama Elshafey 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Earlier, Dahl defeated seventh-seed Dan Townsend 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 in the first round, dumped Cameron McDowell 6-4, 6-2 in the round of 16, defeated second-seed Lee Gibson 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals and edged fellow junior Jean-Chrisophe Goulet 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the semfinals.

The unseeded pair of Mark Macconnell and Andrew Shorter won the men’s 4.0 doubles title with a 6-1, 4-6, 10-4 victory over top-seeds Valentin Varlam and Lucian Roatis.

Unseeded Bogdan Radu won the men’s 3.0 crown, defeating third-seed Dusan Subota 6-4, 7-5 in the final.

Top-seed Monica Silenzi won the women’s 5.0 title, defeating unseeded Sarah Widdowson 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

Barbara Maier, the top seed, won the women’s 4.0 title with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over second-seeded Gigi Navarro while Abigail Heninger won the 3.0 crown, defeating Carlie Palaschak 6-4, 6-3 in the championship match.