The Stratford Tennis Club has crowned its 2011 Men's Doubles Champions. Rain delays forced a couple of schedule changes, but the final matches drew a crowd of over 60 people on Monday night.
The main draw started with 16 teams. It was a wide open event with no real favorite. The event thrilled the crowd with many 3 set matches. Ryan Magagnin and Chris Parson took out Spencer Trachsel and Shannon Dyke in three sets in a high quality quarterfinal match before upsetting the second seeded team of Bob Tamblyn and Nathan Walsh in the semifinals, also in three sets.
Their opponents in the 'A' final were Murray Schiedel and Brent Hiller who upset the third seeded John Noble and Zdenko Andrekovic in three sets in the quarterfinals before dumping the #1 seeds Nathan Duh and Greg Vivian in the semifinals.
The first set of the finals saw Parson control the net as Magagnin's speed and topspin gave Schiedel and Hiller problems. The first set went to Magagnin and Parson 6 - 1. Schiedel and Hiller made some adjustments in the second set. Buoyed by some great serving and returns of serve, the second set was up for grabs. With the score tied 5 - 5 , Magagnin and Parson got the key service break and Parson won his service game to clinch the match and the 2011 championship , 6 -1 , 7 - 5. This is Parson's third Men's 'A' Doubles title and Magagnin's first.
Teams that lost their first round match in the main draw were entered in the 'B' event. The 'B' final was a battle between the young and the very young. University students Austin Johnston and Cameron Kramer topped Greg Misener and Gary Henry in three sets in their semifinal to claim their spot in the 'B' final. The other semifinal saw 14 year old John Fischer and his 11 year old brother Luke take down the defending 'B' champions Jack Watson and Larry Shurrie. The Fischer brothers are, by far, the youngest finalists in Club history! John and Luke had advanced to the 'B' final without losing a set and continued to impress by taking the title with a 6 - 2 , 6 - 2 drubbing of Johnston and Kramer.
The Stratford Tennis Club Ladies Doubles championship matches took place with Junior players continuing their impressive championship play, to take both the 'A' and 'B' titles.
The Ladies Doubles 'A' final saw Krista Plociennik and Claire Scott attempt to defend the title they won last season. The teenagers would face Marta Andrekovic and Johanna Billings, both former champions as Andrekovic won the title in 2009 with Lori McCabe as her partner and Billings won in 2008 also with McCabe as her partner. Both teams had advanced to the final without losing a set.
Plociennik and Scott put on a dominating performance in the final. With power and placement, they proved to be too much for Andrekovic and Billings. Plociennik and Scott took the match 6 - 0 , 6 - 1 to repeat as champions. Plociennik and Scott dominated the whole event, losing a total of only four games in the four rounds they played. This win gave Plociennik another sweep of the 'A' events ,as she had earlier won the Ladies Singles and Mixed Doubles titles.
The Ladies Doubles 'B' final saw youngsters Sonja Andrekovic and Alexandra Andrekovic take on Annette Garneau and Sandie Ennett. With Sonja's athleticism and Alexandra's court intelligence on display, the Andrekovic sisters downed their more experienced opponents 6 - 1 , 4 - 6 , 6 - 2 to win the championship. Sonja and Alexandra are by far, the youngest winners of the Ladies Doubles 'B' event.
