Shaira Somani of Red Deer and Ingrid McKibbon of Lacombe went into the provincial 3.0/4.0/5.0 tennis championships as the No. 1 ranked women’s doubles team in the 5.0 division.
They showed why as they reached today’s 2 p.m. final with a 1-6, 6-3, 10-3 win over Camilla Knight and Samantha Jang-Stewart of Edmonton at the Red Deer Tennis Club Saturday.
They face Karla Lima and Christine Lilley of Calgary in the final.
In the 5.0 men’s singles Manuel Garcia of Red Deer, who was ranked fifth, lost in the quarter-finals 3-6, 4-6 to Jonathan Pearson of Edmonton after beating Benigno Gabriel Rojas-Unate of Edmonton 6-2, 6-2 in the round of 16.
The 5.0 women’s singles saw McKibbon and Marianne Badenhorst of Red Deer will meet in the 9 a.m. semifinals. Somari, who is the top seeded player, also reached the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Katherine Hesje of Edmonton.
McKibbon downed Knight 7-6 (4), 6-2 while Badenhorst, who is seeded second, defeated Sarah Widdowson of Edmonton 6-0, 6-1.
Somari faced Ariel Wiebe of Edmonton in the semifinals.
In the 5.0 mixed doubles Red Deer’s Kaisa Nadeau and Garcia downed top-seeded Ariel Wiebe and Fandhi Irawan 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Frans and Marianne Badenhorst lost 3-6, 2-6 to Lane Richard and Helen Frossard of Edmonton.
In the 4.0 category, the team of Rob Gravells, formerly of Red Deer, who now lives in Edmonton, and Don Seibel of Red Deer reached today’s 2 p.m. final with a 6-0, 6-1 win over second-seeded Tharan Tran and Allan Maniti of Calgary.
In the 4.0 mixed doubles, Seidel teamed with Liisa Wheadon of Edmonton and advanced to the final against Gravells and Ellen Toth of Edmonton.
Seidel and Wheadon beat Luiza Elekes of Red Deer and Bruce James of Forestburg 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals and Pearson and Debbie George 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals.
Gravells and Toth downed top-seeded Maureen Vallee Mathews and Arthur Barbosa of Calgary 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals.
In the 3.0 men’s singles, Vegas Wong lost 1-6, 2-6 to Justin Peng of Edmonton in the A-side quarter-finals and 3-6, 2-6 to Daniel Matheson of Sherwood Park in the consolation semifinals.
The tournament finishes this afternoon.