Serving the prairies with pride

St. Boniface

East St. Paul

Garden City

Four local tennis players recently represented the prairies with pride on the national stage.

Mariya Gedz, Jett Nguyen, Hudson Joseph Van Den Bussche, and Natalina Zappia all qualified to represent Team Prairies at the Tennis Canada Fischer Indoor Junior National Championships at the U16 level.

The event was held at Club de tennis Île des Sœurs, Montreal, Que., from March 22 to 29.

In the U16 boys singles tournament, Nguyen was defeated by ninth-seeded Ilya Sherifali 6-1, 6-0 in the second round. In the U16 boys doubles, Nguyen and Van Den Bussche lost to Milan Grabovica and Eli Thomas Marks 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 32. As well as his doubles appearance with Nguyen, Van Den Bussche was defeated by Simon Stoyanov 6-0, 6-3 in the first round.

In the U16 girls singles tournament, Gedz was defeated by Yolanda Pang 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, while Zappia lost to Karina Swaminath 6-2, 6-2 in the same round. In the U16 girls doubles, Gedz and Victoria Koniouchine reached the round of 16, losing to Sophia Kosenko-Melnyk and Stephanie Grace Semenov 6-4, 6-2. In the same tournament, Zappia advanced to the semifinals with Amy Shen, succumbing to Romy Gravenor and Ève Thibault 6-3, 6-2.

Tennis Manitoba executive director Steve Dreger praised the dedication of the players, who each have regular 6 a.m. practice sessions on top of their regular daily schedules.

“It was a really good experience for all the players that went,” Dreger said, noting the players joined forces with players from Saskatchewan to form a combined team.

“All four of them are terrific, dedicated athletes. They all took the tournament as an opportunity to be on the big stage and test themselves. All of them came back feeling positive.

“Tennis Manitoba couldn’t be more proud of them. All in all, the tournament was a good experience for them, and it’s nice that four athletes got to represent us at nationals. It’s a really strong showing for the province,” Dreger added.

Zappia also qualified to take part in the U18 instalment of the tournament, held at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto, Ont., the week after the U16 event, from March 30 to April 6.

In the U18 girls singles tournament, Zappia was defeated in the round of 32 by second-seeded Isabella Ruyu Yan, the eventual tournament winner. In the U18 girls doubles, Zappia and Noelle Yuxuan Dai progressed to the quarter-finals before falling to Émy Gauvin and Melissa Wang in a three-setter.