Coquitlam Junior Spring Challenger | This was the 6th straight year this tournament was held, and it tied with the first year as the year with the least amount of playing time. The only difference this year was the last two days of the tournament was a complete washout. Some events had to be moved indoors to the new Langley Events Centre in Langley to accommodate some of the out of town players who were still left in the draws. All consolation draws were cancelled.
This tournament hosted 123 junior players, another participation record. This time players were coming from province wide: Abbotsford, Mission, Kamloops, Squamish, Victoria and from all across the lower mainland. There was even a group from Whitehorse, Yukon.
A few club juniors did us proud. Winning the champion trophy for the second straight year was 16 years old Alexander Baumann. Seeded second, he defeated the number 3 and 4 seeded players en route to winning his under 18 singles title. This is his 4th consecutive year he has won an open tournament winner's trophy (5th year if the club closed tournament is included.) Baumann played well in all four of his matches, each with an easy victory. The only tough set he had to fight hard for was in the second set of the final match when Kenneth Theodore, of Kamloops, took him to a tie-breaker. With the first set in his pocket, he momentarily lost his focus to went 0-3 down. He re-grouped and fought one game at a time to level at 3-3 before falling back again at 3-5 and 5-6. Once he was in the tie-breaker, he moved quickly to a 7-3 decision.
Steven Shen, a year younger than Baumann, lost his position as the number 1 seed, when he bowed out to No. 4 seeded player, Theodore, in the semi-finals. Playing on an indoor court and a revised match format, he lost 8-7 after serving for the match at 7-6.
In the under 14 event, Christian Georgiev, 13, reach the finals by winning all his previous four matches in straight sets. Georgiev was seeded second and he faced the top seeded player, Dimitrije Vukovic of Burnaby for the singles title. Vukovic proved too strong for Georgiev, as he was outclassed 6-0, 6-2.
On the girls side of the tournament, two of our juniors bagged a semi-finals appearance each. Franzene Tsui made it to the under 12 semi-finals after beating Taylor Archibald 6-1, 6-4 and Rachael Tuhten 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. She lost 8-5 to the No. 1 seeded player, Victoria Macfarlane of North Vancouver.
Giselle Bonney, who turns 17 later in June, beat Nikita Bhatt to get into the under 18 semi-finals. Looking for her third win in a row, she faced Stella Song, whom she had lost to a year earlier. The outcome of this match stayed the same, as she lost 6-2, 6-2 to the No. 2 seed.
Five other juniors reached the quarter-finals stage. Kevin Baumann, seeded third in the under 12 event, had a total of 5 match points against him. He also had 3 match points against his opponent, Ewan Halliday of Whitehorse, Yukon, none of which he could convert. He lost 8-7. Mark Lintott lost to the No. 4 seed, Theodore 6-4, 6-0 in the under 18 event. Anastassia Krasnova lost to the second seed, Stella Song, in the girls under 18 singles. In the boys under 16, Aaron Li lost to James Galbraith. Seeded 6th, Dickson Zhuang lost to the No. 1 seed, Vukovic in three sets in the under 14 event.
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