Galvanized by last week's double-win at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club Open tournament, 17-year-old tennis sensation Clarissa Chen is prepared to soar to new heights.

In capturing the mixed doubles title (with partner Sean Bailey) in striking fashion, Chen is a bona fide favorite going into the Manitoba Indoor and Senior Indoor Tennis Championships at Taylor Tennis Club, taking place Sept. 2-7.

"I played well," said Chen. "It also helped that a few of the top players were out of town."

Modesty aside, Chen has competed in 14 tournaments this season, including two junior national qualifying events, and is currently ranked in the top 40 among female juniors in Canada. Chen won the Ladies Singles title at both the Manitoba Clay Court Championships and at the Sargent Park Open tournament earlier this summer. Chen has either been a finalist or semi-finalist in nearly all of the tournaments she has competed in this year and has also forged a reputation for being an excellent doubles player in the process.

Chen, who is entering Grade 12 at Vincent Massey Collegiate this fall, has been playing competitively for five years now and is thus entering a key stage in her development, one in which she is thinking about her future in the sport.

"I definitely want to play on a full scholarship (in the United States). I have already begun preparing a video to send off and have been meeting with a representative from Tennis Canada to discuss my options." Chen said.

A former volleyball and track athlete, Chen has been focused solely on tennis over the past several years, practising seven days a week at the Winnipeg Winter Club with coach Peter Otto and traveling to tournaments in Montreal and Toronto to improve the quality of her game.

"Clarissa is a technically sound player," said Otto. "She is the fastest player out there and has an amazing serve and forehand. I am working with her to get her to think a little less out there but mechanically, she has all the tools to be a great player at the college level."

In addition to keeping a comprehensive training and tournament schedule during peak tennis season (May-September), Chen trains during the school year as part of the Winnipeg Winter Club's Tennis Academy team. Chen also instructs some of the city's up-and-coming young players as part of the Winter Club's Mentor Program.

So how is Chen able to balance athletics with academic life? Because of her enrollment in Vincent Massey Collegiate's sport school, a program that is run in collaboration with the Canadian Sport Centre, Chen is able to take her classes early in the morning, allowing her plenty of time in the afternoon to train at the Winter Club.

Chen plans on traveling to Fargo, N.D., and Minneapolis, Minn., during the winter for tournaments where she will continue to work on her court positioning and tactical play.

Future Stars is produced by Red River College Creative Communication students. If you have a story idea, send it to sports@wpgsun.com.

Tennis Manitoba Junior Tour

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NOTE: For venue update details click here.

Tennis Manitoba Awards Banquet

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Men’s 3.5 Singles: Gary Ma def. Rob Haiko 7-5, 6-1

Men’s 4.5 Singles: Marc Lloyd def. Alan Gardiner 6-3, 6-4

Men’s Open Singles: Evan Mancer def. Jared Connell 6-3, 6-1

Men’s 40+ Singles: Darrell Bushuk def. Dave Wilken 6-1, 6-2

Women’s Open Singles: Clarissa Chen won the round-robin

Women’s 4.5 Singles: Lori Mann def. Darlene Lee

Men’s Masters Doubles: Bill Rannard and Ken Yarema won the round-robin

Women’s 4.5 Doubles: Lori Mann and Darlene Lee won the round-robin

Women’s 40+ Doubles: Hiroko Kumagai and Jennifer Jung won the round-robin

Mixed Open Doubles: Clarissa Chen and Sean Bailey won the round-robin.

The next stop on the Open Tour is the Manitoba Indoor Tennis Championships at Taylor Tennis September 2-7. For further information and a copy of the entry form click here.

Tennis Manitoba Open Tour

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Sat., Sept. 13th, noon-5pm: Singles tournament
Sun., Sept. 14th, noon-5pm: Doubles skills / matches

The tryout camp for girls will be held at the Winnipeg Winter Club as follows:

Sat., Sept. 27th, noon-5pm: Singles tournament
Sun., Sept. 28th, noon-5pm: Doubles skills / matches

For further information about the 2009 Canada Summer Games click here.

Canada Games

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Winnipeg, MB (TM) – Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club captured the 2008 Men’s Interclub Championship, defeating Kildonan Tennis Club in all three matches.

Tony Weekes and Tom Brown defeated David Scrapneck and Harry Melnyk 6-0, 6-1 to win the 40s, Darrell Bushuk and Wojtek Wozniak beat Chris Wiebe and Glen Ziprick 6-1, 7-5 to win the 50s and Rick Borland and Bill Rannard won the 60s with a 6-2, 6-0 victory against Jan Arndt and Elgin Zelinski.

Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club

Winnipeg, MB (TM) – The 3rd Annual Tennis Manitoba Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame Dinner will be held on Wednesday, November 26th at the Canad Inns Polo Park.

The tennis community will gather to recognize the achievements of the province’s top players and volunteers. In addition, the induction ceremony for the Tennis Manitoba Hall of Fame will take place in conjunction with the Awards Banquet to honor longtime contributors to the sport in Manitoba.

Stay tuned for further details regarding the Awards Banquet.

NOTE: For venue update details click here.

Tennis Manitoba Awards Banquet

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Winnipeg, MB (GG&CC) – The Tecnifibre Masters Series Challenger was the second stop on the newly organized tennis series at Glendale. There were 73 enthusiastic tennis players that competed for the prestigious Tecnifibre Master Shield. Congratulations to all participants, you are all “Champions”.

Event Final Results

Nathan Kroft over Will Levy
Jaclin Trstenjak over Julia Kroft
Marko Roslycky shared title with Erin Hirkewal
Tali Floom over Lea Zaifman
Adam Baron over Raed Mirajkar
Doug DeVriendt over Evan Mancer
Ola Ochrymowicz over Kayla Jeffries
Shane Chochinov over Mitch Cosman
Alex Minuk over Shane Nicholls
Kevin Kylar over Edmund Brochet
Shawna Kufley over Alexa Solomon

The 3rd event of the Masters Series at Glendale is the Wilson Challenger, starting on August 20th. For more information on the Masters Series at Glendale contact George at 832-5718 or click here.

Masters Series at Glendale schedule & entry forms

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Winnipeg, MB (TM) – The Sargent Park Tennis Center played host to an Open tournament for the first time in over a decade, as the Sargent Park Open concluded this past weekend. The members served as great hosts, welcoming the tennis community to Winnipeg’s newest tennis facility, complete with friendly volunteers, great food and the blessing of great weather all week.

Doug DeVriendt continued his winning ways, defeating Chad LaCap in the Men’s Open Singles final. Chad reached the final after a thrilling upset of his older brother, Sean, in a third set tiebreaker. The LaCap brothers did team up to win their second consecutive Men’s Doubles Championships.

Ion Ursatanu was dominant in the 4.5 Men’s Singles event, winning his fourth consecutive tournament without dropping a set. Clarissa Chen captured the Women’s Open Singles title and Lori Mann was victorious in the Women’s 4.5 Singles event.

Ruby Rafael won two events, teaming up with Dina Dimaculangan to win the Women’s 4.5 Doubles event and partnering with Juno Tugade to take home the Mixed 4.5 Doubles crown.

The complete list of winners is as follows:

Open

Women's Singles: Clarissa Chen won the round-robin

Men's Singles: Doug DeVriendt def. Chad LaCap 6-2, 6-0

Women's Doubles: Jennifer Jung / Hiroko Kumagai won the round-robin

Men's Doubles: Sean LaCap / Chad LaCap won the round-robin

4.5

Women's Singles: Lori Mann def. Darlene Lee 6-2, 7-6(3)

Men's Singles: Ion Ursatanu def. Noel Pe 6-1, 6-1

Women's Doubles: Dina Dimaculangan / Ruby Rafael won the round-robin

Men's Doubles: Guevara / Magduza def. LaCap / LaCap 6-3, 6-4

Mixed Doubles: Rafael / Tugade def. Kumagai / Scrapneck

3.5

Men's Singles: Gary Ma def. Helder Serpa 2-6, 6-4, 6-2

40+

Men's Singles: Eric Bernardo def. Dave Wilken 6-1, 6-3.

For complete results click here.

The next stop on the Tennis Manitoba Open Tour is the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club Open, currently being played at WLTC.

Tennis Manitoba Open Tour

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