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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For Maki Oba, the Greenfield women’s 5.0 in Edmonton was the golden tournament. Oba did not lose a single game en route to the title, winning all three of her round-robin matches 6-0, 6-0.
Oba defeated second-place Daniella Perez Taylor, Lynness Lee and Jeline Lee.
Perez Taylor defeated Lynness Lee 6-3, 6-1 and Jeline Lee 6-0, 6-0. Jeline Lee finished third with a 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 victory over Lynness Lee.
Jennifer Matheson won the women’s 4.0 title at the tournament, defeating top-seed Kathy Turnock 6-0, 6-3 in the final. Matheson defeated second-seed Barbara Tilley 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals and beat Jing Wu 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.
Andre Selem de Stefano, a high school exchange student from Brazil, won the men’s 5.0 Greenfield crown. The unseeded Selem de Stefano defeated top-seed Kevin Longworth in the final. He defeated second-seed David Deklerk 6-3, 6-2 in the first round, bested fifth-seed Stewart Mawdsley 6-3, 6-1 in the quarter-finals and blasted U14 stalwart Ayush Gupta 6-1, 6-0 in the semis.
Another U14 player, Zack Perala, won the men’s 4.0 title on the weekend. Perala, unseeded, defeated Brian Young 1-6, 6-1, 10-5 in the first round, edged David Rossolatos 7-5, 1-6, 11-9 in the quarter-finals, defeated Juergen Knauer 6-3, 6-3 in the semis and dumped second-seed Phil Chan 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Knauer defeated top-seed Robert Serafin 0-6, 7-5, 10-4 in the first round.
Second-seed Blair Holgate won the men’s 3.0 title with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Gary Patterson in the final. Patterson defeated top-seed Kyle Argue 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals.
