Kavanaugh, Matthews big winners at Durdle tournament
NEW WATERFORD — The 26th annual Peter Durdle Memorial Open Tennis Tournament recently took place at the New Waterford Tennis Court.
On-court temperatures were above 38 C for long stretches over the July 22-24 weekend, but the 22 participants were up to the challenge, competing in six divisions.
The story of the weekend was Robbie Kavanaugh’s first singles title at the event in 12 years and the eight matches he played over the weekend. He took the men’s 4.0 division by beating John Hughes of Port Hawkesbury 6-2, 6-1 in a match that was closer than the score indicates. Long rallies eventually wore down Hughes after he had a tougher path to get to the final.
Kavanaugh then teamed with Rishabh Bandari of India to reach the men’s open doubles final, only to lose to 12-time champion Kevin Hall, formerly of Sydney, and his partner Nathan Cloak of Sydney 6-1, 6-3. The winning team made no mistakes and their net play was stellar.
Abbey MacLeod of New Waterford, playing in her third final of the tournament, teamed up with Kavanaugh in the mixed doubles division. The local favourites came up short, losing a hard-fought match to Chris Matthews of Dartmouth and his daughter Mikayla 8-7 in a match that had a lot of long rallies in the heat.
MacLeod came up short in the women’s singles when she lost to Lesek Demont of Chester 6-1, 6-1. Demont, a former champion, returned to the tournament after a threeyear absence and reclaimed the title.
The women’s doubles final was a battle between Mac-Leod and Mikayla Matthews and Demont and her partner Katelyn Matthews where MacLeod got some revenge by winning the title 8-3. This final was one of the more entertaining matches of the tournament.
The premier event saw Chris Matthews winning the men’s open title again over Kevin Hall 6-0, 6-3. The two have faced each other in several finals over the years, with Matthews winning each time.
The new courts and clubhouse in New Waterford, which opened last year, received rave reviews from visiting players from all over the province. Club president Jared Pheifer, along with his wife Janet and son Nate, were on hand all weekend and helped with the running of the Tennis Canada event.