[MONTREAL, QC] August 23, 2024 – This week, Canada’s best juniors were once again in the spotlight at the U12 Fischer Outdoor National Championships at the Carrefour Multisports in Laval, Québec, and the U16 event at the Granite Club in Toronto, Ontario. At the U12 competition, several seeds were eliminated including the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the girls’ and boys’ tournaments. In the older group, there were a few surprises in store: a qualifier took the top honours in the boys’ tournament, while seed No. 3 and seed No. 9 went heat-to-head in the final of the girls’ competition.
The girls’ U12 final pitted two Ontarians against each other: Saroop Randhawa (5) and Alessia Lungu (5). En route to the ultimate showdown, Randhawa caused the upset when she ousted top seed Joni Faye Colburne of Nova Scotia, while Lungu defeated the second and third seeds. On Friday, Randhawa overpowered Lungu 6-6, 6-0 to win the title without dropping a set in six matches. Québec’s Victoria Konjouchine (2) finished third, and Colburne won the consolation draw to take fifth place.
In doubles, Brielle Amey (ON) and Randhawa raised the winners’ trophies when they bettered Alexie Duclair (QC) and Victoria Konjouchine (6-2, 6-1).
In the boys’ tournament, Oscar Sounitsky (3), the only Ontarian in the final draw, represented his province brilliantly by reaching the final. He didn’t drop a set in the round-robin and lost only five games in his quarterfinal and three in his semifinal. He clinched the title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Ethan Levy (9) of Québec, who had to fight through a string of three-setters to get to the final. Ngodo Yvan-Raphael Mefire took third place with a win over fellow Quebecer Nolhan Assonzon Nyambioh. British Columbia’s Liam John Suh won the consolation draw to finish fifth.
In doubles, the top-seeded team of Suh and Arthur Zhyznomirskyy (NS) claimed the title and proved they were indeed the best team. From the quarterfinals onwards, their matches were decided in a third-set super tiebreaker. In the final, they knocked out third seeds Assonzon Nyambioh and Mefire (1-6, 6-3, 10-3), even though the Quebecers had an easier road to their face-off, taking a set at love in the quarters and semis.
Meanwhile in the U16 category in Toronto, no.3 seed Lily Rochon (ON) won her first Canadian title after ousting the first seed and fifth seed. In the final, she overcame a one-set deficit to defeat no.9 seed Lilian Liu (BC) 2-6, 6-0, 6-0. Charlize Gabrielle Celebrini (BC), who was the favourite to take the title, was third, and Mirka Delaney (QC) won the consolation draw and finished fifth.
In doubles, Celebrini and Rochon joined forces and pulled off a 6-2, 7-6(1) win over Quebecers Laurence Demers and Émy Gauvin (3). Celebrini also won the event at the U16 Canadian Indoor Championships.
On the boys’ side, Benjamin Azar (ON) certainly caused the biggest upset. After getting through the qualifying rounds, he breezed through the main draw all the way to the final, where he collided with top seed Miko Lapalme (QC), a member of the National Tennis Centre (NTC) and the defending Indoor Championships titleholder. Azar dropped the first set 2-6 but fought hard to earn the next two 6-0, 6-3 and lift the winner’s trophy. Antoine Généreux (QC) won the match for third place, and Mathias Hamel-Van Dun (QC) won the consolation draw to take fifth.
In doubles, the title came down to a third-set super tiebreaker won by no.3 seeds Joshua Noah Adamson and Dani Szabo (ON), who defeated Généreux and Brayden William Woo (ON) 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Along the way, Adamson and Szabo upset the second seeds, and the winners overpowered the first seeds and U18 indoor champs Azar and Lapalme.
Next week, the Carrefour Multisports will ready the courts for the final event of this summer’s Fischer Canadian Junior Championships when it hosts the U14 tournaments.
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Charlotte Robillard-Millette
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Crobillard-millette@tenniscanada.com