Tennis - Good turnout for open day tournament |31 January 2012

The format of play was best-of-three tie-break to win for men and women, and the first to reach 10 points for the players in the under-10 category.

Aneesh Ramani was the surprise winner of the under-10 division, beating Constance Levivier 10-5 in the final. Aneesh has now joined the tennis academy of Seychelles and this first success could help him develop his game.

He will have to prove himself in the Vijay Junior Tour – a championship for players in the U8, U12 and U18 categories – starting this week. The registration deadline for this first event is February 2.

 In the female open category, player of the year Clyvie Delpech was the favourite and lived up to this billing, beating her sister Christie Delpech in the final. Christie put up quite a good fight before losing in the third tie-break.

At a time when the Seychelles Tennis Association (STA) is determined to recruit new female players, the organisers were happy to note the good level of play youngsters Ines Levivier, Tania Solo and Felicity Passon who really gave their best.

Some of the country’s best young male talents like Shaun Andriamaro, Theo Barois and François Levivier were among the 16 players who turned up to take part in the male open competition won by Baptiste Muller.

Muller won 2-0 (7-2, 7-5) against Selwyn Lespoir who was leading 5-2 in the second tie-break.
STA vice-chairman Dominique Guichard, who also took part in the tournament and lost in the quarterfinal against eventual winner Muller, presented the prizes to the category winners and runners-up.

The next tournament on the STA calendar is the Cerf Island Resort tournament to be played on Cerf Island on February 8. Some players have already registered for the event and those who wish to take part must register by February 2 the latest.

G. G.