JUNIOR DAVIS AND FED CUP

Following up on their US Open Junior Boys Doubles championship, Denis Shapovolov of Ontario and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Quebec were in winning form again at the Junior Davis Cup,  played in Madrid, Spain.

Canada’s under 16 boys team were the top seeded team in the event. They beat Poland, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic in round robin play and Russia in the semifinals without dropping a match. Japan lost to Germany in their semi-final.

In the finals, against Germany, Denis led the way with a straightforward win over Marvin Moeller. Felix lost the next singles match to Nicola Kuhn. Denis and Felix then took on their singles opponents in the doubles match which would decide the tie. After taking the first set 6-3, the Germans fought back to win the second set. Fortunately the Canadian duo were able to seal the deal with a 6-2 win in the third set to win Canada’s first-ever Junior Davis Cup title..

The third member of the winning team was Benjamin Sigouin of Quebec. The best finish by a Canadian Junior Davis Cup or Fed Cup team before this year was second place — 2011, 2004, 2003 (Junior Fed Cup) and 2010 (Junior Davis Cup).

"It's very exciting being the first Canadians to ever win Junior Davis Cup," said Shapovalov. "We knew we had the team to do it as all three of the players on this team are great and contributed. We are very excited."

The women's junior Fed Cup team, made up Bianca Andreescu of Ontario, Charlotte Robillard-Millette of Quebec and Vanessa Wong of Ontario also competed very well. They won their round robin grouping with Japan, Great Britain and Japan. In the semi-finals they played top seeded and eventual champions, Czech Republic and regrouped to defeat Russia to take third place. USA was the other team in the final four.

15 countries qualify for the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup, which is for under-16 players, through regional qualifying events. The host country teams automatically qualify. This year 168 teams from 94 countries took part in regional qualifying for this event. This competition has been held since 1985. Formerly known as the World Youth Cup, it was rebranded as Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup in 2002.

The Sunshine and Connolly Cups, known informally as the junior Davis and Fed Cups, were competitions for under-18 players organized by the ITF. The Canadian team of Daniel Nestor and Rob Janacek of Ontario, along with Sebastien Lareau and Sebastien Leblanc of Quebec, won the Sunshine Cup in 1989. These Cup events have not been played since 2001.

Pictured here are the winning Canadian and Czech Republic teams. The Czech girls, Marketa Vondrousova, Monika Kilnarova and Anna Slovakova won their final over USA to take the Junior Fed Cup.  Photo by Martin Sidorjak.

TOURNAMENT OF GRAND CHAMPIONS

The Tournament of Grand Champions, a series of “Tournament of Club Champions” events were held at the beautiful new University of Toronto,  Scarborough College Tennis Facility, which was upgraded for the Parapan Am Games.  Winners and Finalists of Club Championships for 2014 and 2015 from clubs across Ontario were invited to participate in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events spread over 3 weekends in September and October. All players were guaranteed 3 matches over the weekend.

The first event was for singles players. The women’s singles A was won by Leanne James of the Granite Club who beat Vienne Lu of Kew Gardens in the final. The women’s singles B was won by Renee James of the Cutten Club who beat Anne Hurtibise of Kew Gardens in the final.

Leighton Brandon of Kew  was crowned champion in the Junior Boys singles with his win over Tim Zeikowvsky of Newmarket. The men’s singles A winner was Justin Belanger of Davisville who defeated Luke Coles of Mayfair Lakeshore in the final. Andrew Falco of Heron Park took the men’s B honours with a win over Kew Gardens member, Justin David.

The men’s and women’s doubles events were held the last weekend in September. The women’s C title was won by Diane Howarth & Annette Brajer of Pine Point who defeated Natasha Stojanova & Alexsanda Stojanova in their final. The women’s B was won by Rhonda Kazdan & Lauren Tabatznik of Mayfair West who beat Mary Ruehlicke & Lisa Hoffman of Waterloo in their final. The women’s A final was won by Jacqueline Green & Sandra Barrett of Mayfair Lakeshore who defeated Mary Hall & Pat Hall of Curran Hall. The men’s A champions were Konrad Chan & Ilias Mourador of Henry Farms who defeated Brian Li & Bobby Gheorghiu of Thorncliffe Park in the final. Mandeep Singh & Arul Raj of Malton took home the B honours with a win over Wayne Ivey & Rhuel Maano of North York in their final.

October 3 and 4 saw the mixed doubles events on the courts. The mixed A champions are Paul Scotti & Christina Rustscheff  of Davisville, while Kanta Murali & Paul Kingston of Mayfair Lakeshore were the finalists (see photo from right to left). The mixed B honours went to Stephanie Wong & Tyson Wong of Agincourt who beat Mary Ruehlicke & Peter Gavaris of Waterloo in the final.

Special thanks go to Scott McRoberts of the U of T Scarborough College Tennis Centre who made this possible and to Tennis Access's Sandra Barrett and her team of volunteers for their unflagging energy and enthusiasm in getting this event off the ground.

INTERCOUNTY TENNIS YEAR END FINALS

The Intercounty tennis association league annual playoffs at the Aviva Centre were initially scheduled for September 19^th but with a blustery, rainy and cold forecast, some of the matches were played on Sunday September 20^th.  Thanks go to all the committed volunteers who make this event one that is so important to the many recreational players who compete every week throughout the summer.

Several matches were hotly contested and the winners determined by counting sets and even games.

The league winners were as follows

MIXED League

Majors: Dentonia Park beat Davisville on sets 3-3, 8-7

A Division: Don Mills won over Banbury (default)

B Division: Boulevard beat Pine Point 3-3, 7-7, 59-58

C Division: Richmond Hill Lawn 6 beat Richmond Hill Lawn 7, 4-2

LADIES League

Majors: Banbury beat ORC 1  9-3 (see photo above of the Banbury ladies team)

A Division: Ajax beat Brampton 12-0

B1 Division: Sheridan beat Ballantrae 12-0

B2 Division: Whitby beat King City 6-6, 5-5, 43-36

55 + League

Division 1: Newmarket beat Brampton (see photo below of the Newmarket over 55 team)

Division 2: ORC beat King City

JUNIOR League

Mixed Major: Glenview beat Unionville

Mixed A: Kleinburg beat Hillcrest

Girls: Rosedale beat Wanless Park

Boys Majors: Unionville beat Central

Boys A1: Newmarket beat Milton

Boys A2: Whitby beat Brampton

The Intercounty Tennis Association encourages would be photographers to bring their cameras to this event.  For more information on the leagues or to see the photo galleries that have been uploaded you can go to www.intercountytennis.com

SUPER SENIORS AT THE WORLDS

The ITF Super Senior World Team and World Individual Championships were held in Umag Croatia Sept 21 to 26 and Sept 28 to Oct 3 respectively.

Several Ontario players represented Canada in the team events. Tim Griffin & John Payne (65s), John Tibbits & Shaheer Mikhail (70s), Guido Weber (75s), Lorne Main (80s), Mary Ann Gaskin & Coby Dommasch (65s). 

In the team events, the Canadian women’s over-65 team had the country’s best finishing position, placing eighth in the Kitty Godfree Cup. The best men’s finish for Team Canada was ninth in the over-70 Jack Crawford Cup. 

The Tennis Canada Seniors Committee decided not to send women’s teams in the 70, 75 and 80 age groups. Canada has been a great supporter of these women’s events in past years and encouraged new levels of competition to be introduced. For instance, Canada had won the women’s over 80 team event (the Doris Hart Cup) every year since its inception in 2011. The existence of senior teams and Canada’s active support of these events has been an inspiration and incentive for mature women to play and compete and there has been a corresponding increase in the number of entries at the Steve Stephens Senior Nationals. 

One of the women who was on all the triumphant Canadian over 80 women’s teams, Rosemarie Asch of Montreal, did make the trip to Croatia and swept the over-85 age category at the ITF Super Seniors World Individual Championships, claiming three gold medals. In women’s singles Rosie beat Monique Giffard of France, 6-0, 6-1 to claim the crown. Rosie won the over-85 women’s doubles title with Hungarian Erzsebet Szentirmay and the over-85 mixed doubles trophy with fellow Canadian Lorne Main (see photo).

Asch went a perfect 8-0, never losing a set all week and in fact dropping just 14 games in total. Asch, who will turn 85 in November, was playing in the over-85 age category for the first time. For the complete draws and results from the ITF Super Seniors World Individual Championships please visit www.itftennis.com/seniors 

Next year's Steve Stephens Senior Nationals (2016) will be held in Ottawa August 21 to 27. The next ITF World Team championships will be held in Croatia for the young seniors (O35,O40 & O45) May 1-6, 2016, in Helsinki, Finland for the senios (O50, O55 & O60) June 19 - 24, 2016 and in Antalya, Turkey for the Super Seniors (O65, O70, O75 & O80) Oct 16-21, 2016.  The individual championships for each group are played the following week.

MIELE MASTERS CIRCUIT WINNERS

The first Miele Masters Circuit concluded on Thanksgiving weekend with the Mayfair Senior Masters. This included a special century mixed doubles event and a reception on Saturday evening at the Miele Gallery in Vaughan.

Circuit points were accumulated over 4 events and all registered Ontario players who entered singles events were automatically entered. The four events were the Ontario Senior Provincial Championships – men’s and women’s singles, held July 6 – 12, the ITF Senior Championships at Donalda – men’s and women’s singles, held July 15 – 19, the Steve Stevens Senior National Tennis Championships – men’s and women’s singles, held in Montreal August 16 – 22, and the Mayfair Senior Masters – men’s and women’s singles, held October 9 – 12.

The  special century mixed doubles event was won by Sandra Cimetta & Barry Litman (see photo right) who beat Kerry Mitchell & Glenda Hirvela (see photo left) in the finals. Semi-finalists were Ben Woo & Akemi Seiriki and James Henkelman & Cindy O’Doherty.

The winners and finalists of the singles events were:-

MS35 Dave Rowat, Vahid Tahamtan

MS45 Nels Stanfield, Mike O’Neill

WS45 Cindy O’Doherty, Nancy Lin

MS50 Gary Meanchos, James Henkelman

MS55 Kerry Mitchell, Avi Singer

WS55 Sue Bye, Rudite Loze

MS65 Peter Gonda, Brian Fung.

This event also decided the final placements in the circuit. Singles Circuit Winners will receive Miele Gourmet Dinners and Prize money, Second Place will receive a Tennis Canada Prize Pack and Third Place players an OTA/Sponsor Prize Pack.

The final standings in the Miele Senior Circuit are

35 s   Dave Rowat, Vahid Tahamtan, Dane Smith              

40s    Jason Christie, George Virich, Catalin Codita           

45s    Mike O'Neill, Karl Hale, Jorey Middlestadt & John Murray (Tied)

50s    Gary Meanchos, James Jeffrey Henkelman, Kerry Mitchell

55s    Kerry Mitchell, Avi Singer, Paul Bedard

60s    Sergey Borodulin, Joe Novak, Rosti Brankovsky     

65s    Peter Gonda, John Payne, Brian Fung         

35s    Kanta Murali,  Jennifer Bishop, Liane Marr               

40s    Jennifer Bishop, Paula Myslivecek, Sophia Lynn Ronan

45s    Cindy O’Doherty, Nancy Lin, Janet Hofstra

50s   Erin Boynton,  Janet Vivian Bulger, Kelly Stobbe

55s   Erin Boynton,  Sue Bye, Charlotte Deheinrich

60s   Michelle Hall, Frances Critchley, Natalia Borodulin               

65s   Mary Ann Gaskin,  Cathie Joyce      

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this exciting addition to senior competitive tennis and look out for the Miele Senior Circuit announcements for 2016 to make sure you enter the events that make up the circuit, we expect there to be more opportunities to participate in year two!

BIANCA VANESSA ANDREESCU - OTA PLAYER OF THE MONTH

Wild Card to Runner-Up in Gatineau

Story and Photo by Gavin Murphy

Bianca Vanessa Andreescu entered the 2015 Gatineau National Bank Challenger tennis tournament as a wild card on July 28 and left as runner-up on August 2. The 15 year old from Mississauga played some of her best tennis ever en route to the final of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit tournament before losing to top seed Alexa Glash of the United States 6-4, 6-3.

Prior to the finals the right-handed Andreescu, coached by former French professional player Nathalie Tauziat, was undefeated at the pro level after winning four straight matches in Gatineau. She became the second Canadian to reach the Gatineau finals following Françoise Abanda of Montreal who was runner up in 2014’s inaugural tournament. Although losing to 25 year old Glash, ranked 145 in the world as of August 2015, Andreescu had an impressive run in Gatineau and earned her first 30 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking points.

The US$25,000 challenger tournament is played outdoors on the hard courts at Parc de I’ile in Gatineau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River from the nation’s capital. The official ball is the Wilson US Open Regular Duty.

The ITF, based in London England, is the governing body of world tennis and the ITF women’s Pro Circuit provides entry level tournaments enabling players to reach the WTA tour. The circuit annually features some 500+ tournaments in 65 countries worldwide and currently has six prize money levels: US$10,000, US$15,000, US$25,000, US$50,000, US$75,000 and US$100,000. The WTA singles ranking list released at the end of 2014 showed that all but two players had, at some point in their career, competed on the ITF Pro Circuit.

Player Profile:

Home town: Mississauga     Club: Tennis Canada NTC   Style: Right Handed (Two-handed backhand)

Bio: Bianca is in the NTC program at the Aviva Centre and is trained by Tennis Canada's coaches.  She is 15 years old and competes in the OTA and National U16 and U18 divisions. This summer Bianca won the U18 national championship in singles and doubles. Highlights of her young career include winning the U16 Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in girls singles. She is currently ranked #1 provincially in U16 and U18. She is ranked #2 and #3 in National rankings for U16 and U18 respectively.

ILTC OF CANADA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS

The ILTC of Canada celebrated its 50^th year of existence by hosting a team doubles tournament at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club Sept 1-4.

Teams from the International Lawn Tennis Clubs of Austria, Barbados, Germany, Uruguay and USA came to the event. More than 35 Canadian members also played in the competition. Members came from as far as Vancouver and Halifax to participate.  Blessed with excellent weather, if a little on the warm side, there was lots of tennis played in a complex schedule that not only gave the opportunity for all the foreign visitors a chance to play morning and afternoon, but also tried to make the matches as balanced as possible. A total of 70 matches were played in two and a half days with three points being awarded for each match. The winning team was determined by average points per match earned as teams had different numbers of players.  The Austrian team were the winners and the German team came second.

Although the tennis was the primary reason for the event, the visitors were also treated to a full social schedule with a formal dinner on Wednesday evening, a cruise on the lake on Thursday afternoon and a trip to Niagara Falls and a winery on the last day. All the participants were very appreciative of the excellent and generous hospitality at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, in particular the lunches on the balcony, the special dinner and the courts which were in great shape throughout the event. A great time was had by all!

Pictured here are the Uruguayan team. The ladies on the team Tati Ruiz (crouching) and Fiorella Bonicelli (right) were dominant among the ladies and all the competitors and spectators were amazed at the skill and grace of Fiorella who had won the French Open ladies doubles (with Gail Sheriff) in 1976 and mixed doubles (with Thomaz Koch) in 1975 when she was living in France and competing professionally.

The International Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1924 by A. Wallis Myers in England. The French Club was the next to be formed in 1929. The aims of the club are nicely captured in their motto, “Hands across the net, friendship across the ocean”. For more information you can check out www.ictennis.net . There are currently clubs in 40 countries. To be eligible for membership, players must have achieved a significant national ranking and have represented their country internationally.  More photos of the event can be found at ILTC50photos