Banner Season: Toronto takes down competition to claim double tennis gold
Toronto, Ont. (via Toronto Varsity Blues) - Sunday marked the first banner day of the 2023-24 OUA season, with medal round matches at the OUA Tennis Championships.
WOMEN’S FINALS
TORONTO 4 WATERLOO 3
The no. 2 Varsity Blues beat the no. 4 Waterloo Warriors to win their third title in four years. The Blues came out of doubles play with the advantage, winning two of three games, with wins from the pairs of Anastasia Dyadchenko and Maria Popova, and Mia Wong and Janet Pham. In singles play, the Warriors started strong winning in the one- and two-slot from Aldi Lazoja (6-3, 6-2) and Adema Tursunkhanova (6-2, 6-2). The Blues would go on to win three straight to secure the victory, including dominant wins from Noelle Vanessa-Wilbert (6-0, 6-2), and Felina Yang (6-2, 6-0).
It was a weekend to remember for Dyadchenko, being named an OUA all-star and taking home the rookie and player of the year award. For Waterloo, Adema Tursunkhanova and Jane Llorin were named OUA all-stars.
WOMEN’S BRONZE MEDAL
MCMASTER 6 WESTERN 1
Finishing up the tournament on the women’s side, the no. 3 McMaster Marauders beat the no. 1 Western Mustangs for the bronze medal. Starting off with the doubles, the Marauders picked up key victories from the pairs of Scarlett Wang and Maia Mureseanu, and Anastasija Kunovac and Anika Yip. In singles action, the Mustangs took the opening game with Carley Citron winning 6-1, 6-3. The Marauders took the rest of the singles matches, including dominant victories from Wang (6-0, 6-1) in the two-slot, Riya Kaur (6-2, 6-1) in the five-slot and Sofia Smiechowski (6-2, 6-0) in the six-slot.
Citron and McMaster’s Eva Feddema were named 2023 OUA all-stars, while Marauders head coach Kirsten Magi was named the women’s coach of the year.
Award Winners (Women)
Player of the Year: Anastasiya Dyadchenko, Toronto
Rookie of the Year: Anastasiya Dyadchenko, Toronto
Coach of the Year: Kirsten Magi, McMaster
All-Stars
Anastasiya Dyadchenko, Toronto
Maria Popova, Toronto
Adema Tursunkhanova, Waterloo
Jana Llorin, Waterloo
Eva Feddema, McMaster
Carley Citron, Western
MEN’S FINALS
TORONTO 4 WESTERN 3
The no. 2 Varsity Blues beat the no. 1 Western Mustangs in a back-and-forth matchup. In doubles action, the Blues left with two of three victories from the pairs of Rassam Yazdi and Michael Chu, and Raghav Sundaraman and Kevin Wong. In singles action, the Mustangs started with wins from Ashton Cross and Aidan Zia. The Blues came alive in the later slots, with Raghav Sundaraman beating Aidan Sarnese 6-3, 7-5 and Tyler Lunaria beating Wilson Boyle 7-6, 6-2. Michael Chu was the hero for the Blues, beating Abdullah Khan in the four-slot, in a three-set thriller 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
On the awards front, Cross was named an OUA all-star and took home the player of the year award, while Zia was also an all-star. For the Varsity Blues, Yazdi and Chu were named all-stars.
MEN’S BRONZE MEDAL
WATERLOO 4 YORK 3
In the final match of the day for the men, the no. 4 Waterloo Warriors took home the bronze medal after beating the no. 3 York Lions. The Warriors came out flying in doubles action, winning all three doubles matches. The Warriors earned a victory in the one-slot from Pavle Milic beating Max Tokarev in the three-set thriller. The Mustangs had two certain victories for themselves from David Gavberg (6-3, 6-2) and Christian Gusto (6-2, 6-4). In what turned out to be a crucial match for the Warriors, rookie Michael Li beat Emilio Velazquez in three sets to lead the team to a third-place finish.
Along with clinching the bronze medal for the Warriors, Li was also named as the 2023 men’s rookie of the year.
Award Winners (Men)
Player of the Year: Ashton Cross, Western
Rookie of the Year: Matthew Li, Waterloo
Coach of the Year: Zhenya Kondratovsky, Ottawa
All-Stars
Rassam Yazdi, Toronto
Michael Chu, Toronto
Ashton Cross, Western
Aidan Zia, Western
Alex Bodor, York
Pavle Milic, Waterloo
Full match results and schedule can be found here.