Red Deer’s Mark Hamill went into to the junior champs outdoor junior tennis championships as the No,. 2 ranked competitor in the U18 boys’ division.
After a slow start in his opening match Thursday at the Red Deer Tennis Club against Curran Wearmouth of Calgary he showed why he has such a high ranking.
Hamill dropped the opening set 6-7 (7) before storming back to win 6-4, 6-1 and advance to the semifinals today at 11:30 a.m. against Akhil Mehta of Edmonton. Mehta downed Westin Bennett of Calgary 6-2, 6-2.
The other semifinal sees top-seeded Luke Manley of Edmonton, who received a bye, taking on No. 3 Jordan Sluchinski of Edmonton. Sluchinski downed Andre Selem de stefano of Edmonton 6-4, 2-6, 67-3.
Meanwhile, Tereza Simonov, whose father Rene Simon is the head coach of the Red Deer Club, opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Gracie Sprung of Calgary in the U12 girls’ division.
Simonov meets second-seeded Kiko Cunningham of Calgary today at 12:30 p.m.
Three other Red Deer competitors — Bruno Simon, Kobus Badenhorst and Michael Robinson — see action today in the junior challenger division.
The championships run through Sunday.