Another month, another powerhouse performance by the Canadians at an ITF Masters event in Alberta. In March, the hosts won all but one title at the Calgary event but this time around in Edmonton, they managed to complete the sweep.
Here is the monthly Masters Tennis update.
A Canadian stood atop the podium in all 17 draws at the Kay McNelly Masters Classic in the Albertan capital last month, with just one of those victories being shared with a non-Canadian.
Six Canadians took home multiple trophies in Edmonton. James Nearing (men’s 30+), Kristina Sanjevic (women’s 30+), and Shawna Lalande-Weber (women’s 50+) dominated their respective divisions, taking home both the singles and doubles crowns.
Jeremy Bell and Jennifer Cherneski both pulled off a slightly unusual double. It is not that out of the ordinary to see a player win titles across multiple age groups, but usually those age groups are close together. In the case of Bell and Cherneski in Edmonton, each took home one title in the 30+ age group and another in the 50+ division. Bell won the men’s 30+ doubles with Nearing and stood alone in the 50+ men’s singles, while Cherneski won the doubles in both the women’s 30+ and 50+ draws with different partners.
Rounding out the multi-titlists in Edmonton was Lane Richard, who secured the 30+ mixed doubles crown along with the 40+ men’s doubles.
Mayumi Hagiwara of Japan was the lone non-Canadian to get a hand on a trophy in Edmonton, winning the women's 40+ doubles with Canuck Erin Silverman.
Here is the full list of winners from the Edmonton Masters events. All players are Canadian unless indicated otherwise:
| Men’s | Women’s | Men’s | Women’s | Mixed |
30+ | James Nearing | Kristina Sanjevic | Jeremy Bell/ | Jennifer Cherneski/ | Lane Richard/ |
40+ | Tristan Gilbertson | Erin Berry | Lane Richard/ | Mayumi Hagiwara (JPN)/ | No event |
50+ | Jeremy Bell | Shawna Lalande-Weber | No event | Jennifer Cherneski/ | No event |
60+ | Jamie Davidson | Lisa Knight | David Crowther/ | Mary Potter/ | No event |
70+ | Gordon Driedger | No event | No event | No event | No event |
April will be a busy month for Masters Tennis in Canada. The next ITF event, the Van Lawn Masters, will take place next week, with another ITF event in Toronto beginning on April 21. The Eastern Canadian Men’s Championships are also happening over the coming weeks.
It was not just on home soil that the Canadians had good showings in the month of March. All over the ITF Tour, Canadians were making deep runs at Masters events. Here is a list of Canadians who reached finals over the last month on the ITF Masters Tour (titles in bold):
- Da Hong Wong: MT100 Chengdu men’s 60+ singles champion, MT100 Chengdu men’s 60+ doubles runner-up (w/ Bernier)
- Scott Gerrity: MT400 Zaragoza men’s 60+ doubles champion (w/ Joubert)
- Marcel Joubert: MT400 Zaragoza men’s 60+ doubles champion (w/ Gerrity)
- Sydney Azancot: MT200 Agadir men’s 70+ singles champion
- Albert Deschamps: MT200 Agadir men’s 65+ singles champion
- Bruce Hudgins: MT200 Javea men’s 65+ singles champion
- Lliam Jones: MT200 Prague Modrany men’s 65+ doubles runner-up (w/ Pepin)
- Marc Pepin: MT200 Prague Modrany men’s 65+ doubles runner-up (w/ Jones)
- Ram Kancharla: MT200 Hyderabad men’s 45+ doubles runner-up
- Marc Bernier: MT100 Chengdu men’s 60+ doubles runner-up (w/ Wong)
The first batch of the 2026 ITF World Tennis Masters Tour Championships for the 60, 65, and 70 age groups were scheduled to take place in March in Manavgat, Turkey, but were cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East. The ITF stated that further details will be added in due course.
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Feature Photo : Tennis Canada
