Above photo: Marc Lloyd (left) and Tony Weekes at the Manitoba Senior Championships.
Below are some highlights from the 2018 Tennis Manitoba tournament season.
- Kevin Kylar won three men’s Open singles titles on the Tennis Manitoba circuit, earning victories at the Deer Lodge Classic, Manitoba Open and Manitoba Finals. Kylar also reached the final of the $10,000 Alberta Open.
- Marcello Audino, 15, won the men’s Open singles crown at the WLTC Open and was a finalist at the Deer Lodge Classic, Manitoba Clay Court Championships and Manitoba Finals.
- Three junior players captured women’s Open singles titles in 2018, with 16-year-old Monika Popovic winning the WLTC Open, 14-year-old Elinor Shpunt claiming top spot at the Manitoba Open and 13-year-old Ana Barbosa winning the Manitoba Finals.
- The team of Mark Vandal/Tony Weekes won men’s 4.5 doubles titles at the Deer Lodge Classic, Manitoba Clay Court Championships and Manitoba Open.
- Shirley Blanca won five total events in 2018, capturing the women’s 4.5 title at the Manitoba Finals, the women’s 4.5 doubles title at the WLTC Open (partner Dawn Cyr), Deer Lodge Classic (partner Samantha Lee) and Tuxedo Open (partner Dawn Cyr), and the mixed 4.5 doubles title at the Deer Lodge Classic (partner Mark Vandal).
- Susan Blumenschein, Darrel Bushuk and Peter Eck each won two titles at the Manitoba Senior Championships at Taylor Tennis Club. At the Steve Stevens Senior National Tennis Championships in Montreal, the Manitoba team of Darrel Bushuk/Dong Won Kang reached the men’s doubles 60 final.
- The 2018 Tennis Manitoba junior tournaments had entries of 56 players at the Taylor Junior Open, 45 players at the Kildonan Junior Open, 48 players at the Tuxedo Junior Open, 59 players at the Prairie Junior Championships and 28 players at the Deer Lodge Junior Classic. The tournaments included Future Stars Circuit U9 and U10 events. View Future Stars leaderboards.
- Reece Carter of Manitoba and partner Mia Kupres of Alberta captured the girls’ doubles title at the U14 Rogers Outdoor Junior Nationals in Mont-Tremblant with a 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 win over the top seeded team of Sarah Liu (Ontario)/Annabelle Xu (Quebec). Carter placed seventh in singles at the event.
