Photo : Peter Figura
Outdoor Junior Nationals month continues over the next week with both the Under 16 Fischer Outdoor Junior National Championships and the Under 12 Fischer Outdoor Junior National Championships taking place.
The future of Canadian tennis will on display in Milton, ON and Laval, QC over the coming weeks. Notable players who have won these events in the past include Daniel Nestor, Aleksandra Wozniak, Eugenie Bouchard, and Alexis Galarneau.
U16
The U16s are taking place at the Milton Tennis Club in Milton, ON and are already underway with some first and second-round matches having been completed. All remaining second-round matches will be played on Friday.
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There are 42 entries in the boys’ singles and 40 in the girls’ singles. The format is an elimination draw with six rounds, although many players received first-round byes.
Defeated players are slotted into the consolation bracket.
Samila Jarrah of Quebec is the top seed. She won the U14 Outdoor Junior Nationals in 2021.
Boys’ top seed Dani Szabo of Ontario was upset in his opening match by Jerry Han of Quebec. That leaves Quebec’s Alec Barin, the No. 2 seed, as the highest-seeded player in the draw. Barin was the runner-up in singles and the doubles champion at the U16 Indoor Junior Nationals earlier this year.
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Doubles play gets underway on Friday. There are 21 teams in the boys doubles draw and 20 in the girls doubles.
The finals will be played on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
U12
The U12s begin on Friday at Carrefour Multisports in Laval, QC.
The format of the U12 event is different from most other tennis tournaments. Rather than a normal knockout event, it starts with a round-robin, with the top players from the group stage advancing to a knockout stage.
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For the boys, there are eight groups of five, totaling 40 competitors. There are eight groups on the girls’ side as well, four with four players and four with five, totaling 36 players.
Doubles will be a standard knockout competition with 20 pairs in the boys doubles and 18 in the girls.
The finals will be played on Friday, Aug. 25.