|October 25
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Young Seniors Championships have concluded and winners have been crowned in both the team and individual events. Canada had teams entered in the men’s and women’s over 35s, over 40s and over 45s as well as several singles players in the individual tournaments.
The best performances by Canadian teams came in the men’s and women’s over 45s. The men’s team finished seventh out of 22 teams, whilst the women went one better, finishing sixth in a pool of 18. Meanwhile, the men’s over 35s finished eighth, the men’s over 40s finished 15th, the women’s over 35s finished 13th and the women’s over 40s finished eighth.
Each event took the form of a group stage followed by play-offs. The overall winners of each team event were Spain in the men’s over 35s, Germany in the women’s over 35s, Spain in the men’s over 40s, Italy in the women’s over 40s and France in the men’s over 45s and women’s over 45s.
In the individual championships, Canadian Henry Choi made a deep run in the men’s over 35s event, reaching the semi-finals where he was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Spain’s Jose-Antonio Sanchez-De Luna. Sanchez-De Luna would go on to lose the final 7-5, 6-2 to top seed Pablo Cerutti of Argentina.
In the women’s over 35s, Canadians Kelly McNabney, Nicoleta Scott and Genevieve Demers were knocked out in the first round. McNabney reached the semi-finals of the consolation event but was forced to retire at 5-2 down in the first set.
Canadians Sebastien Harvey and George Virch made it to the third round of the men’s over 40s draw, while Rajen Mahal and Jeff Kuchma were knocked out in round two. Gaelle Simian made it to the quarter-finals of the women’s over 40s but couldn’t overcome top seed Regina Balcune, who herself would go on to lose in the final. Fellow Canadian Anna Iglewski couldn’t make it past the second round.
Hugues Laverdiere and Anton Mendoza competed in the men’s over 45s but couldn’t advance beyond the second and first rounds respectively. Meanwhile, there were six Canadians in the women’s over 45s as Christine Olejnik, Susie Lang-Gould, Candida Fridman, Susan Hamilton, Anne Douglas and Jennifer Cherneski all took part. However, only Lang-Gould made it past the first round.
Access the full results of the ITF Young Seniors World Team and Individual Championships.
(Feature photo: Camera Work USA)