Warriors women wow in their semifinals to overcome defending champions
Toronto, Ont. (via Toronto Varsity Blues) - The best from across the province continued their competition for the OUA Tennis Championships on Saturday at Mayfair Toronto East with semifinal matches.
WOMEN’S SEMIFINALS
WATERLOO 4 WESTERN 3
The No. 4 Waterloo Warriors took down the No. 1 Western Mustangs to advance to their first OUA final in over 15 years. It was a strong start for the Warriors, winning two of three doubles matches. In singles play, the Warriors took an early win in the two-slot after Adema Tursunkhanova beat Mustangs’ Carley Citron. Jana Llorin sealed the deal for Waterloo in the six-slot with a commanding 6-0, 6-0 win over Sofia Smiechowski.
TORONTO 5 MCMASTER 2
Wrapping up women’s play for the day, the No. 2 ranked Varsity Blues beat the No. 3 Marauders in decisive fashion. In doubles play, the Blues swept, winning all three matches, before seeing commanding victories from across the board in singles. Anastasiya Dyadchenko started strong for Toronto, beating Eva Feddama 6-1, 6-2 in the one-slot, with Noelle Vanessa-Wilbert and Felina Yang picking up 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-2 victories, respectively. McMaster’s Scarlett Wang won her match against Maria Popova 6-4, 6-4 in the two-slot.
MEN’S SEMIFINALS
WESTERN 5 WATERLOO 2
The No. 1 ranked Western Mustangs took down the No. 4 Waterloo Warriors marking their spot in the OUA final. The Mustangs took the doubles point, winning two of three matches. In the singles, Western won four of six games, including a decisive 6-1, 6-0 victory for Aidan Zia in the three-slot. The Warriors took a decisive victory in the doubles one-slot. In singles play, Ray Xie took the win for Waterloo in the two-slot after Alex Oancea was forced to retire. Matthew Li won a hard fought, three-set game for the Warriors in the four-slot 6-2, 7-6.
TORONTO 4 YORK 3
Making their way back to the OUA Championship final, the No. 2 Varsity Blues beat the No. 3 York Lions. It was the Blues who came out victorious in doubles play after victories from the pairs of Rassam Yazdi and Michael Chu, and Arden D’Anniello and Alexander Luchak. In singles play, the York Lions took victories in the top three slots from Max Tokarev, David Gavberg and Georg Zoidl. Raghav Sundararaman scored a 6-0, 7-5 victory for Toronto in the four-slot over Emilio Velazquez, while Alexander Luchak had a commanding 6-1, 6-2 victory over Christian Giusto in the six-slot for the Blues. Charles Zheng sealed the deal for Toronto in a three-set thriller against Charlie Refausse.
Heading into the final day of the OUA Tennis Championship’s, on the men’s side of the draw we will see the No. 1 seeded Western Mustangs look to defend their championship in the gold medal game against the No. 2 Toronto Varsity Blues, followed by the Waterloo Warriors and York Lions in the bronze medal match.
While on the women’s side of the bracket, the No. 2 Varsity Blues will look to win their third championship in four years against the No. 4 Waterloo Warriors, followed by the Western Mustangs and McMaster Marauders facing off for the bronze medal.
Full match results and schedule can be found here.