This weekend the Stratford Tennis Club held the second leg of the Royal LePage Hiller Realty Junior Grand Slam. The “French Open” had competitors in two age categories for the boys and one category for the girls. The Boys Under 18 category saw many of the younger players move up an age group and take on the older boys.
Grant McPherson, who won the Australian Open in the Under 14 category, showed he belonged in the older age group. McPherson advanced to the final where he took on Boys Under 18 Australian Open champion John Fischer. In the final McPherson scored an 8-5 victory to take the Boys Under 18 French Open title. The consolation title went to Ben Nelson. Nelson lost a heartbreaking first round match 8-7 to finalist John Fischer but won three rounds in the consolation division, taking the final 8-3 over Lukas Kaufman.
The Boys Under 14 category saw the #1 and #2 seeds upset in the semifinals. Joe Yundt took out #1 seed Stefan Andrekovic in one semifinal, advancing to his first Grand Slam final. In the other semifinal #2 seed Luke McCarroll fell to Ryan Lay sending Lay into the final. Lay continued his stellar play downing Yundt 8-2 in the championship match to claim the Boys Under 14 title. The consolation final saw Michael Vandeweil take the title with an 8-0 drubbing of Dorian Redfern.
The Girls final once again saw a battle between sisters Sonja and Alexandra Andrekovic. Sonja continued her domination of Grand Slam events, winning the French Open final 8-5 adding to her Australian Open championship won last month. Australian Open finalist Nicolle Crowley fell to the consolation round this tournament where she defeated Jenna Lobsinger 8-3 to take the French Open consolation title.
Next up for juniors at the Stratford Tennis Club is the Optimist Junior Tennis Day; Saturday, June 23. Open to members and non-members the Optimist Day should see many young tennis enthusiasts having a great morning of tennis fun. The Royal LePage Hiller Realty Junior Grand Slam continues with the “Wimbledon” event on July 7.
