The competition might have been as hot as the temperature, but that didn’t keep a pair of local players from putting together winning showings at the Moose Jaw Tennis Club’s Senior Provincial Tournament recently.
Neil Wasylyshyn won both his matches on Day 1 of the event to take top spot in the men’s singles 30-and-over division before partnering with Brian Swanson to take first place n the men’s doubles 40-and-over class.
It was as impressive a showing as it was solid, as close to 70 players took part in the two-day event during the July 10 weekend.
Wasylyshyn picked up a pair of two-set victories to claim the men’s singles crown, defeating Deep Sanyal in his opening match and downing former Sask First teammate Gabe Rosescu in the final. Both opponents hailed from Regina Lakeshore Tennis Club, who had a host of players taking part in the event.
“The first guy I played, I played well. I was able to move him around and I played really consistent,” Wasylyshyn said. “Then the second match was much more difficult given the fact he was a former national-level junior and had a lot of experience… I tried to hit balls to his backhand and make him hit high balls, because if you give him anything short, he’ll put it away. For the most part, I was able to do that, and it turned out well.”
Wasylyshyn joined forces with Swanson for the next competition, and the two multiple-time Moose Jaw club champions found themselves in a couple of battles before emerging with the title.
Swanson and Wasylyshyn defeated Brandon’s Kit Harrison and Gilbert Lee in their opening battle before taking a win over Rosescu and Nathan Neil Morrison out of Regina in the final.
“The first match we went down 5-2 in the first set but we pulled it off, and then we were down again in the second match but came all the way back, so that was pretty rewarding,” Swanson said.
The match against Harrison and Lee was especially close, going to a first-to-10 tiebreaker before the Moose Jaw duo prevailed.
“The guys from Brandon, we’d never played them before, and they had a lot of spin and slice on their shots, so you have to get used to that and not tire out,” Swanson said.
That played a factor in things as the match went on, as Harrison and Lee were playing their second match of the day.
“They started getting a little tired in the second set, we jumped on them and stayed on top of them as the match went on,” Wasylyshyn said. “It just got better and better as it went on.”
The final saw Swanson and Wasylyshyn up against a hard-hitting duo, but as the match went on they were able to get a gauge on their power and respond. And as the unforced errors mounted for Morrison and Rosescu, Wasylyshyn and Swanson pulled away.
“It was pretty much the same the way the first game went, we started slow and finished strong, got better as we played,” Swanson said. “If you haven’t seen their serves before, I find that kind of difficult, but once you get onto it, it makes a big difference in the game.”
The tournament was the first large event played on the newly refurbished Moose Jaw courts, with the perfect surface in Australian Open blue a hit with everyone.
“They’re beautiful,” Swanson said. “I’ve been here for 47 years and this is as good as they’ve been. They’re really nice, they play slow and smooth, and it’s really nice to get it done.”
“You get a true bounce, you know what you get without cracks and divots and things like that,” added Wasylyshyn. “With the old courts, it mattered what you played on, where now, they’re all the same.”
Action took place in 12 divisions, with Marcia Jackson winning the women’s singles over-35 and Kim Wayne Baryluk the men’s singles over-55 on Saturday.
Lucia Biclea and Dale Johns won the men’s doubles over-35 category, Harrison and Lee the over-50 division and Baryluk and Lloyd Rey the over-55 division.
Angela Chavez and Ingrid Fernandez took the women’s doubles over-35, Patrice Louise Kreuger and Rose Marie Macdougall the over-50 class.
Tim Makahoniuk and Katie Omerod won the mixed doubles over-35, Kruger and Tim Schneider over-55 and Rey and Jackson the over-65 division.
