More junior national titles were handed out this week with the Under 16 and Under 12 Fischer Outdoor National Championships wrapping up.
The U16 event ended on Wednesday in Toronto, while the final U12 matches were played on Friday in Laval.
U16
The boys singles draw had a slightly surprising result, with qualifier Benjamin Azar taking the singles title. It is Azar’s third national title but first in singles. He won the 2022 U14 Outdoor doubles and the U18 indoor doubles earlier this year.
Having not dropped a set on his way to the semis, the Ontarian edged fifth seed Joshua Noah Adamson in a third-set tiebreak to reach the final. There he rallied from a set down to defeat top seed Miko Lapalme for the title 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Azar and Lapalme are doubles partners and were the top seeds but lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual champions Adamson and Dani Szabo. They edged out Antoine Généreux and Brayden William Woo 10-8 in the match tiebreak in the final.
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Another Ontarian, Lily Rochon, won the girls singles title with a wild comeback in the final against Lillian Liu. Liu took the opening set before Rochon caught fire, winning the last 12 games in a row for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-0 victory.
In the semifinals, Rochon upset top seed Charlize Celebrini, who is also her doubles partner.
Rochon doubled-up at the Outdoor Nationals, winning the doubles title with Celebrini. The pair were the top seeds and did not drop a set on their way to victory, capping it off with a 6-2, 7-6(1) victory over Laurence Demers and Émy Gauvin.
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Those victories marked Rochon’s second and third national titles of the year, having won the U18 Indoor doubles title in April.
U12
Ontario swept the singles titles at the U12 Fischer Outdoor Junior Nationals, with Oscar Sounitsky winning the boys title and Saroop Randhawa claiming the girls. It is the first national singles title for both.
Neither player dropped a set at the national championships.
Sounitsky beat Ethan Levy of Quebec 6-1, 6-4 for the singles title. In the semis, he beat Nolhan Assonzon Nyambioh, who had defeated the top seed Liam John Suh in the quarter-finals.
Randhawa upset the top seed Joni Faye Colburne in the quarter-finals of the championship flight, going on to defeat fellow Ontarian Alessia Lungu in the final 6-4, 6-0. She doubled-up in Laval, winning the girls doubles title with Brielle Amey. They beat the Quebec duo of Alexie Duclair and Victoria Koniouchine 6-2, 6-1 in an all-unseeded final.
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The boys doubles was won by the top seeds Suh of British Colombia and Arthur Zhyznomirskyy of Nova Scotia. They won three consecutive match tiebreaks from the quarter-finals onwards, clinching the title with a win over Nyambioh and Ngodo Yvan-Raphael Mefire.
