NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Dannan McElroy-O'Driscoll keeps her eye on the ball as she hits a return in her women's open finals win Saturday evening at the final day of the Medicine Hat Open Tennis Tournament.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Open had repeat winners this weekend.
Calvin Heller won his ninth men’s singles open championship and Dannan McElroy-O’Driscoll won her second straight women’s singles open championship Saturday, the final day of the five-day tournament.
Heller defeated Jordan Schibler 6-1, 6-2 in the men’s singles final.
“It’s fun to play in the tournament and it’s extra special if you can win the tournament, so I’m happy with that,” Heller said. “I felt that I played good and it’s always nice to compete and a little bit extra special if you win the tournament.”
McElroy-O’Driscoll defeated Dawn Olson 6-2, 6-4 in the women’s open singles finals.
The tournament, which got underway last Tuesday with 60 players competing and finished up Saturday evening, returned to its pre-COVID format of including both the singles and doubles tournaments in the same week. The last two years, the two divisions had been split into two different tournaments. Heller said it made it for a busier tournament but he enjoyed having all the players together again.
“It’s definitely tougher to play both events on the same weekend or the same week but it is nice to have them both in conjunction because you can feel the excitement in the air,” Heller said. “There’s a lot of people around and it’s a lot of court time, but it’s worth it. There was a good buzz out there for sure.”
Niall Weich defeated Geoff Paulgaard in the men’s open singles consolation finals, 6-1, 6-1. Tyler Warken defeated Mike Fentabil in the men’s intermediate singles 6-0, 7-5 with Darryl Giesbrecht the consolation winner.
Eryn Comeau won the women’s open singles consolation finals 6-0, 6-3 against Richelle Thomas.
Danielle Fritzke defeated Irene Giesbrecht in the women’s intermediate division finals 2-6 , 6-1, 6-4 with Janessa Lehman defeating Maryn Paulgaard, 6-1, 6-1 in the consolation finals.
McElroy-O’Driscoll and Lauren Danroth won the women’s open doubles finals by defeating Linda Norris and Kristen Wenzel 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Dawn Olson and CoraLee Riehl defeated Corrine Peters and Richelle Thomas to take the consolation finals 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 with Anna Wirzba and Danielle Fritzke winning the women’s intermediate division.
Craig and Niall Weich defeated Heller and Jin Shin 6-4, 6-3 to win the men’s open doubles final.
Dave Reinheller and Jose Polit defeated Peter and Quinlan O’Driscoll 6-3, 6-4 in the men’s open doubles consolation finals.
The next event at the Tennis Club is the Medicine Hat Open Mixed Doubles Tournament, Sept. 8-10.
