Since its resurrection a couple years ago, the Capital Cup tennis trophy has not been spending too much time on Canadian soil.
After this past weekend, the Cup, which is vied for twice a year by Juneau and Whitehorse tennis players, is back on its way to Alaska’s capital.
Seven Juneau players, including five men, made the trip to Whitehorse to compete for the trophy over the weekend. Although Whitehorse names top many of the divisions, all the games won by either side in pro-set matches (the first to win eight games) between players from each capital, were totaled with Juneau coming out on top by 128-102.
“What gets you in these things are the 8-0 wins - they help a lot more than the 8-6 wins,” said Stacy Lewis, president of Tennis Yukon.
Whitehorse won the Cup last summer at home, but it was recaptured by the Americans in Juneau during the spring.
Last summer’s Yukon champion Jan Polivka did a lot to help the Whitehorse crew, winning the men’s A division singles, defeating Whitehorse’s Eric Marcoux 8-6 in the final. Polivka and partner Gord Puddister also won the men’s A doubles, defeating Marcoux and partner Tobin Roberts 8-6 in the final.
In the women’s A division singles, Juneau’s Mona Yarnell went undefeated in a round-robin, winning four matches for the title.
“Mona is a very strong player and she had some big spreads in her results,” said Lewis.
In the B divisions, Whitehorse’s Shahid Sayed won the men’s singles while teammates Hoby Irwin and Andre Eckert-Maret won the men’s doubles. Whitehorse’s Maryanne Morrissey, won all four of her matches for the women’s B singles.
Although no junior players from Juneau made the trip, some local youngsters battled it out among three age categories.
The youngest division, ages 7-8, ended in a tie for first between Jaxson Fitzsimmons and Alex Giczi. The next group up, ages 8-11, was won by Andrew Roberts, while his brother Alex Roberts won the 11-13 age group, the largest with eight players.
Women’s doubles, both the A and B divisions, are to be determined this week along with the mixed doubles B division.
“We had to give priority to the Juneau matches because they had to leave to catch the ferry,” said Lewis.
Tennis Yukon will be hosting the Yukon Territorial Championships August 18-22. For more information visit www.tennisyukon.com.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com