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Marchuk, Ellis take singles titles at Yukon Tennis Championship

For the Yukon Tennis Championships, held over the last two weeks, the weather was as unforgiving as Roger Federer’s forehand.

For the Yukon Tennis Championships, held over the last two weeks, the weather was as unforgiving as Roger Federer’s forehand.

Beginning August 22, the tournament ran a week over schedule as matches were continuously postponed because of rain.

Finally with a break in the clouds, the final matches were held this past weekend at the Mt. McIntyre tennis courts.

Bouncing back from a defeat in the finals of the Capital Cup at the hands of Jan Polivka in July, Kyle Marchuk took the men’s singles title with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win over Polivka.

“We’re pretty evenly matched, it just turned out that this time it went in my favour,” said Marchuk.

“Jan’s a little bit more fit than I am, so I pretty much had to beat him in two,” he added. “Otherwise he probably would have pulled away from me — he’s quite the athlete.”

After taking the first set with a pair of service breaks, Marchuk found himself fighting off a comeback as he started playing a less aggressive game.

“Usually when you pull ahead, you kind of want to play it safe,” said Marchuk. “Sometimes that’s the worst thing to do. You should just keep-on playing your game.

“I just didn’t want to miss any balls, took some pace off and used less spin, and he took advantage of that.”

Polivka had a chance to even the score at one-set apiece, serving for the second set up 6-5, but dropped the game, sending the set to a tie-breaker.

“He was a better player this time,” said Polivka. “Hopefully I’ll get him next time.”

Marchuk and Polivka teamed up to win the men’s doubles title, defeating brothers Scott and Eric Hindson 6-2, 6-3, in the finals.

In the women’s draw, Beth Ellis defeated Vickie Roche 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) to take the singles title in a grueling three-hour match.

“It probably came down to service breaks,” said Ellis. “If you can hang onto your serve in that critical moment, and win that service game, sometimes that’s the critical advantage … That’s what it should come down to.”

Early on in the deciding set, Ellis found herself trailing 4-1, but managed work herself within a game of victory at 5-4. Dropping the next game, Ellis was forced to a tie-breaker.

Besides causing delays, the bad weather led to the cancellation of the mixed and women’s doubles finals, as Laurie Drummond, a finalist in both events had to leave for vacation.

In response the semifinal matches on the other side of the draw were designated the finals. Marchuk and partner  Rouche took the mixed title, beating Polivka and Sophia Flather 6-2, 7-6.

Rouche and Leighann Chalykoff took the women’s doubles title.

With an excellent turnout of junior players, eight in total, Kieran Halliday won the junior title, going undefeated in the round robin. In the “newer junior” division, Ben Pereira also went undefeated for that title.

This Saturday at the Canada Games Centre, Tennis Yukon will be participating in the fall/winter sport registration fair.

Tennis Yukon will be conducting lessons for junior players throughout the winter at Yukon College. Adult classes are also available.

For more information contact Stacy at tennisyukon@mac.com.