The Stratford Tennis Club held its annual regional Men’s and Ladies Doubles Tournament this past weekend. For 46 years the Club has held this event on the second Saturday in June. This tournament, founded and the format invented by Ray Cornish, drew players from the region for a full day of tennis and a barbeque in the park. After 10 years of being a part of the Tennis Access Tour, the Club struck out on its own to recapture the southwestern area feel to the event. Players from Waterloo, Cambridge, and London joined teams from the host club in this 2014 tournament.
The Ladies Doubles saw 9 teams compete in the round robin portion which determines whether teams advance to the ‘A’ or ‘B’ playoff. The ‘A’ playoff had two teams from Cambridge, 1 from London, and the Stratford team of Marta Andrekovic and Ginny Smith compete for the championship. In the semifinals, Andrekovic and Smith fell to Gwen Chaisson and Kim Hutt-Taylor of Cambridge 8-4. The other semifinal saw Mary Ann Gaskin and Sue Ovenden of Cambridge top Donna Scott and Gail Lockyer of London 8 – 3. This set up an all Cambridge final. Gaskin has won this tournament more times than any other player in the history of the event. With usual partner Peggy Fairs of London unavailable this year, it was Ovenden’s turn to help Gaskin to another title. Gaskin and Ovenden took the championship match 8-4 over their fellow Cambridge players.
The Ladies ‘B’ division saw a collection of Stratford teams in the running for the title. The first semifinal saw Stratford’s Sandie Ennett and Kaitlyn Mathieson take on Lisa Hoffman and Suzanne Edwards of Waterloo. The visitors prevailed, advancing to the final with an 8-4 victory. The other semifinal was a battle of Stratford teams. Johanna Billings and Deb Murphy downed Michele Thomson and Erma Weernink 8-1 to book their spot in the final. The championship match saw Hoffman and Edwards outlast Billings and Murphy scoring an 8-5 win to take the title.
The Men’s Doubles event also had 9 teams competing during the day. The ‘A’ playoff had defending champions Matt Brown and Sung Min Yoon of Waterloo joined by Marcel Rydenski and Bob Boudreau of Cambridge and two Stratford teams; John and Luke Fischer as well as Grant McPherson and Paul Coates. The semifinals saw the defending champions Brown and Yoon take out Rydenski and Boudreau 8-1 to advance to the final. The all Stratford semifinal was dominated by McPherson and Coates as they dispatched the Fischers 8 games to 1. In the championship match, the defending champions could not be stopped. Brown and Yoon cruised to their second consecutive title with an 8-0 shutout of McPherson and Coates.
The Men’s ‘B’ playoffs had several Stratford players vying for the title. Both semifinals were the closest matches of the day with both ending in tie-breakers. The first semifinal had Graham Heaton of Stratford and partner Dominik Sadowski of Burlington edge out Zdenko Andrekovic of Stratford and Miki Susic of Oakville 8-7 (7 points to 3 in the tie-breaker) to advance to the final. The other semifinal was a battle between Stratford teams as Nathan Duh and Greg Vivian took on Pat McCarroll and Murray Schiedel. McCarroll and Schiedel were able to outlast Duh and Vivian 8-7 (7 points to 5 in the tie-breaker) setting their place in the final. The final belonged to McCarroll and Schiedel as they doubled up Heaton and Sadowski 8 – 4 to claim the championship.
Many thanks go out to Rob and Chris Duh for their great help with the spectacular barbeque and Lynn Bast for purchasing the barbeque necessities. Thanks to Stacey Wilson and John Noble for the prize purchases and donations. Also a big thank you to Michele Thomson, Ginny Smith, Debbie Mitchell, Monica Eickmeyer, Nancy Chung, and Ruth Cornish for donating the delicious salads. Many positive comments were made by our out of town visitors about these salads, with even some requests for the recipes. A special shout goes out to Greg Misener ( The Fudge Guy ) for his generous donation to our gift packages. It was a very sweet gesture and greatly appreciated! The help of all our members has led to the Club having its most successful fundraising June doubles tournament in many years. A great day was had by all at the Club and it was also a great day for the Club!
