Coquitlam Tennis Club Junior Program 2016: First Time Lucky and Fourth Time a Charm

CTC Junior Club Closed – U18 | The first time is certainly lucky for newcomer Winnie Zhuang. She surprised everybody including herself to become the girls' under 18 club champion. This event was not held in the previous four years due to the insufficient competitive girls in the program. This year there were enough girls to form a round-robin competition for both the under 18 and under 14 categories. Zhuang was definitely not the favourite to win it all. Three other girls were in the mix to win the girls' title for the first time in five years. Giselle Bonney, Vanessa Mansfield and Donna Labayo were all capable of walking away with the winner's trophy. But Zhuang flew under their radar and knocked them off one by one. Zhuang did lose to Labayo in the round-robin contest for her only lost. In the main draw final she stepped up her game and convinced herself she wanted the club champion title more than Labayo. The final went to a third set super-tiebreaker. Zhuang won it 10-5.

After missing out on winning this under 18 title for the past three years, Alexander Baumann was extremely pleased to be placed among the elite group of boys who had won this title over the past 23 years. This group included Rahim Esmail who had won the 1993 title as a 13 years old and he went on to become a Canadian national under 18 doubles champion in 1998. Esmail made his first trip to the Nationals in 1993 in the under 14 event. Arif Mulji was also picked as a first alternate to represent British Columbia at the Nationals in 1994. Baumann is now setting his sight on going and competing against the country's best juniors.

In the playoffs, Baumann easily defeated Daniel Shen 6-1, 6-0 in his semi-finals. In the other semi-finals, defending champion Jedi Tetik had a bit more difficulty defeating his younger 16 year old opponent Steven Shen, Daniel's younger sibling. In the first set Tetik struggled with his unforced errors and serves, and lost the first set 6-4. In the second Tetik regained his consistency, got his game under control and fronted an effective offense against Shen's steady groundstrokes. He prevailed, took the set at 6-2 and drew level in the match. The third set super-tiebreaker stretched both players to their limit and Tetik finally won it at 10-7 to set up another final with Baumann. Tetik had beaten Baumann 6-1, 6-3 in last year's final to win his first club championship, and he had also defeated Baumann 7-6, 6-2 only days earlier in the finals of an event in Whistler. He was confident and was looking to repeat as club champion since Ilya Tihanenok took the title in 2008 and 2009.

In the final, Baumann turned the table on Tetik, attacking his baseline defense repeatedly. Many times Tetik found his game shattered by Baumann relentless attacks. Even as Tetik tried to mount an offense into Baumann's game, he was either met by his opponent solid baseline game or he fell victim to his own unforced errors. After finding himself 2-6, 3-5 down, Tetik found some wind and broke Baumann serve. He held his own to level the set at 5-5. Since Baumann had lost his opportunity to serve out the match at 3-5, he made no mistake in the 11th game and held on to his own service game. At 6-5 Baumann realized the tide had turned again, he quickly broke Tetik's service game and sealed his victory and a place in the history book.

Baumann collected his second club champion title with his doubles partner Steven Shen. Tetik and Daniel Shen are the second place doubles team. Tetik added the mixed doubles crown to his trophy collection with doubles partner Winnie Zhuang. Steven Shen and Vanessa Mansfield lost out on the championship title on the win-lost percentage in the round robin event. They were also placed second in last year's event.

2012 U18 Boys' Singles Club Champion – Alexander Baumann

ROUND TWO BOYS UNDER 18 SINGLES MAIN DRAW

Championships Final
Alexander Baumann (2) bt Jedi Tetik (1) 6-2, 7-5

Semi-Finals
Alexander Baumann (2) bt Daniel Shen (3) 6-1, 6-0
Jedi Tetik (1) bt Steven Shen (4) – 4-6, 6-2, 10-7

3rd Place
Steven Shen (4) bt Daniel Shen (3) 6-7, 6-2, 10-8

ROUND ONE BOYS UNDER 18 SINGLES ROUND ROBIN

2012 U18 Boys' Singles Club Consolation Winner – Mark Lintott

ROUND TWO BOYS UNDER 18 SINGLES CONSOLATION DRAW

Winner: Mark Lintott
Runner-Up: Andrew Lin

2012 U18 Girls' Singles Club Champion – Winnie Zhuang

ROUND TWO GIRLS UNDER 18 SINGLES MAIN DRAW

Championships Final
Winnie Zhuang bt Donna Labayo 6-3, 2-6, 10-5

3rd Place
Vanessa Mansfield bt Giselle Bonney 8-7

ROUND ONE GIRLS UNDER 18 SINGLES ROUND ROBIN