Above: Mens “B” singles winner Joe Fanara with tournament director Michael Starke: Men open singles winner:Winner Oliver Sajous of Haiti.  Our 27th annual BTC Clay Court was as usual a fun event with lots of tennis played on our clay courts. Weather was perfect and the courts held up well in spite of the heavy tennis action. Below is a quick recap. You may click here view all the draws and match results.

Congrats to Marissa Hansen or Rochester who won our women singles. We had a record 10 entrants in WS. 

Kudos to Joe Fanara, who after 12 years of trying, won the Men’s “B” singles over Steve Prislupsky, 6-4,6-3. Joe attribues his victory to not going 3 sets, the right mixture of fish oil and Ginseng, and wanting to win one before his kids went to college. The most exciting match of the tournament was Steve Prislupsky & junior Zach Wallenstein. Steve prevailed, 6-4, 6-7, 11-9 in the 3rd set supertiebreak, surviving a match point in the process.

Jordy Asher & Sue Vail won our Mixed doubles, sneaking out back to back 3rd set super tiebreak victories to take home the title, defeating Mary Ellen Halm & Tim Klee in the finals. We had a record 10 Mixed teams this year, thus skirting our usual round robin affair and running a traditional draw.

Kris Shumway & Michael Starke won the men’s doubles, defeating the Vadlamudi brothers 6-2,6-3 in the finals. Enroute to the finals, they defeated local standouts Jordan Smith & Lucas Coene 6-4,6-2  in a good match, and the 1st seeds Marcus Fonseca & Peter Kung 6-4,4-6,7-5 in a very tight 1st round match, staving off two match points. Kris will move on the compete in the qualifers of the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, a $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event. Michael will purhase his ticket as usual and watch Kris & Billy from the sidelines, as acting coach.

The mens singles was a great event this year. Our four semifinalists were from other countries. Rafael/Sao Paulo Brazil, Sardor Pulatove, Tashtant Ubekizstan, Phil Stevens, London England & Oliver Sajous, Port o Prince, Haiti. Talk about an international flavor. The lure is the wildcard into the qualifiers of the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger at Rec Park August 4 & 5. Oliver Sajous won, defeating SardorPulatov in the finals, 6-4,6-3. Oliver lost just one set enroute to Phil Stevens in the semis. Oliver, a liakeable personalitey with a colorful game, is a great story. Living in Haiti until 17, Oliver had very limited resources and training. He was unable to travel to tournaments and receive sufficient tennis training. He is on full scholarship at Florida Atlantic University, and plays on the Haitian Davis Cip team. Congratulations to Oliver and best of luck in the qualfiers.