It took three days but we finally got clear skies and beautiful weather as all seven first round matches took place at the Barrhaven Tennis Club. And for the first time in this tournament, we got a three set match!
Match of the evening took place on Court 1 as #15 Jin Xu took on new entrant this year, Jonathan Suen. In the early going, games were decidedly long with multiple deuces being required to decide a winner. Early on Jonathan jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind some well placed top spin lobs that danced along the baseline. Jin would push back, breaking to put the first set back on serve at 5-4. But Jonathan was able to break one more time and take the first set 6-4. In the 2nd set, it was Jin’s turn to control the play. Much like in previous tournament appearances, he would punish Jonathan from the baseline with some devastating backhand winners down the line. Jin only needed one service break to send the match to a third and deciding set, winning the 2nd set 6-3.
In the final set, both players did not let up with their energy and drive. The match itself was still ongoing as other first round matches that started at 8:00 were finishing up. With the match on serve at 4-3, the eighth game was a crucial one on Jonathan’s serve. Give up the break and Jin serves for the match. The stakes were not lost on both players, as the eighth game took 16 minutes to finish! Jonathan would dig deep though and tie up the match at 4-4. Jonathan would continue to push forward with some great top spin lobs and fantastic groundstrokes to ultimately break and win the match. After 3 hours and 20 minutes, Jonathan Suen would upset the #15 seed, defeating Jin Xu 6-4, 3-6, 6-4!
Other notable matches included the last match of the evening as Demyon Plakhov took on Rick Vidale. Rick got off to a strong start, taking the first set 6-2 and was well on his way to winning the match, leading 5-2. Demyon would begin mounting a comeback, breaking Rick’s serve twice to tie up the match at 5-5. Rick had no aspirations of having the match go three sets though and would grind out a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Demyan.
Here are the results from last night’s matches:
- Jonathan Suen defeated #15 Jin Xu
- Loni Bytygi defeated Eli Nasrallah
- Matt MacKinnon defeated François Bordeleau
- Galen Weaver defeated Michael Aronovici
- #16 Albert Wong defeated Dimitrije Gojkovic
- Rick Vidale defeated Demyon Plakhov
Day 4 puts to a close the first round with six matches on the docket. Here is the schedule:
6:00 PM:
- Dave McAleer vs Patrick LeBlanc
- Sophie Lefebvre vs Jun Subad
- Andrew Carlyle vs Joel Mark
- Tom Fitzgerald vs Risto Gostimirovic
8:00 PM:
- Max Humilde vs Ky Ly
- Phil Cheesman vs Andrew Gill
Perfect weather on the horizon should make tonight a great night to watch tennis!
Patrick LeBlanc
Tournament Coordinator
Barrhaven Tennis Club