Coquitlam Tennis Club Junior Program 2016: Two Brand New U18 Club Champions

CTC Junior Club Closed – U18 | For the sixth year in seven, the boys' under 18 club champion has a new name. Ever since Ilya Tihanenoks registered a second year as club champion in 2009, no one boy managed to hold title as the defending champion. While Tihanenoks left junior ranks the year after his second title, Ken Zhang, Jedi Tetik, Alexander Baumann and Steven Shen all could not retain their club title the following year. In 2011 Zhang lost to Baumann in the quarter-finals. Baumann denied Tetik a double the following year in the finals, in straight sets. And last year, time ran out for Baumann as an ankle injury cost him the finals against Shen. There was a glimmer of hope after winning the first set 6-1, but Baumann lost 6-4 in the third which concluded his final junior match of his junior career. Shen in his final year this year decided to pass on this event. So we welcome our new under 18 boys' club champion. And he is Riley Friend. Still sixteen years old, maybe, just maybe he can win this more than once.

The boys' under 18 final was finally played eight days before the Awards & Banquet event. Last year's final was played the evening before this ceremonial event. This main draw as well as a few other events were held back due to a combination of availability, injury and the weather. When the final was finally played, it was on a Pro-D day plus the weather was sunny and both boys were available. The match started strongly for Matthew Wong, who lost in the semi-finals the previous year to Baumann. Wong won the first set 6-1. Friend, who also lost in last year's semi-finals to the eventual club champion Shen, settled down and gained confidence as the match went on. These two players had met earlier in the season at the Coquitlam Junior Spring Challenger tournament and Friend emerged the victor in a 6-4, 6-4 score. In the qualifying round it was Wong who had beaten Riley 8-7 to chalk up his unbeaten qualifying run. As Friend's confidence grew in the second set, he started keeping his balls in the court longer and this made Wong worked harder to win the point. Wong became more aggressive and in turn became more error-proned as his unforced errors accummulated. As the match started slipping away from Wong in the third set, he grew increasingly frustrated trying to hang on to the match. In the end the match belonged to Friend with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Friend scored a double by winning the doubles event with his doubles partner Jean Paul Pamarang. Once again Wong had to settled for second best with his doubles partner Zach Amaral. Friend joins five other juniors to win both singles and doubles titles in the same season.

Pami Herar did it in 1990, followed by Arif Mulji in 1992. Danny Camozzi did it twice in 1994 and 1995. Alexander Baumann and Steven Shen won back to back doubles title in 2012 and 2013 when they also won their own singles titles, Baumann in 2012 and Shen in 2013.

In the girls under 18 qualifying round, last year's winner under 14 winner Tiana Andjelic finished the round-robin undefeated. Just as the four-player playoffs got under way, Andjelic fell ill with mononucleosis. After a few failed attempts over several weeks at coming back to compete, it was decided and agreed to let her results of the round-robin stand and awarded her the title. The other three players moved on to determine the second and third placings. At this stage Keiko Pan had already beaten Donna Labayo, the under 18 club finalist of the past two years. The result of the 7-5, 6-0 win against Labayo stood as played for Keiko who then proceeded to beat Jenny Jia 6-2, 6-0. Jia had earlier beaten Keiko 8-7 in the round-robin qualifying match. Playing for third, Labayo finished off her junior career with an 8-4 decision against Jia. In the round-robin Labayo and Pan were tied for second spot but Pan scored an easily 8-1 victory against Labayo.

2014 U18 Boys' Singles Club Champion – Riley Friend

ROUND TWO BOYS UNDER 18 SINGLES MAIN DRAW

Championships Final
Riley Friend (2) bt Matthew Wong 1-6, 6-2, 6-2

Semi-Finals
Matthew Wong (1) bt Zach Amaral 6-2, 6-2
Riley Friend (2) bt Kevin Baumann 6-4, 7-5

3rd Place
Zach Amaral bt Kevin Baumann 6-4, 6-0

SPECIAL 3rd/4th PLACE PLAYOFFS for MAIN DRAW

Kevin Baumann bt Benjamin Loewen 8-4
Kevin Baumann bt Zach Amaral default
Zach Amaral bt Benjamin Loewen 8-7

ROUND ONE BOYS UNDER 18 SINGLES ROUND ROBIN

2014 U18 Girls' Singles Club Champion – Tiana Andjelic

ROUND TWO GIRLS UNDER 18 SINGLES MAIN DRAW

Champion: Tiana Andjelic
2nd Place: Keiko Pan
3rd Place: Donna Labayo

2nd/3rd Place Playoffs
Keiko Pan (2) bt Donna Labayo 7-5, 6-0
Keiko Pan (2) bt Jenny Jia 6-2, 6-0
Donna Labayo bt Jenny Jia 8-4

ROUND TWO GIRLS UNDER 18 SINGLES CONSOLATION

Winner: Sidney Lin
Runner-Up: Helen Huang