Guelph, Ontario’s Sonja Molnar was able to overcome the strong serve of opponent Tori Kinard and win the Freedom 55 Financial IFT Women’s Tennis singles event on Sunday.
Hosted by Panorama Recreation all last week, the tournament featured 32 young women from North America, the Pacific and Europe vying for a share of the $10,000 purse.
The women’s singles final match took two sets, with Molnar scoring a sequence of winning shots to prevail in the final set, 7-5. The first set was won by Molnar, 6-4.
“It was fantastic today because of the crowd,” Molnar said following the match. “That really helped me, especially in the second set when I was down a little bit.”
This was Molnar’s second tournament win since early last year and she gets back on the circuit in a few weeks in Quebec.
“I have to remind myself that it’s fun and not to put too much pressure on myself.”
Molnar credited Kinard for a hard match and expects to see her again this season. Molnar was ranked second on the tournament, Kinard was ranked in the top spot.
For her part, Kinard said the game was good overall.
“I think I could have played better and (Molnar) played well. It does happen. I also have to remember to breathe.”
Kinard said she plans on returning to Canada in a few weeks for more tournament play, and then added she will travel to Europe later in the summer.
Molnar said she enjoyed her time on the Saanich Peninsula, having stayed with a local family. She said she plans to be back in two weeks while taking some holiday time, which includes a coastal cruise.
Eric Knoester from Panorama said Tennis Canada has said the tournament will return to the Peninsula in 2015, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and local support.
In the doubles event, which wrapped up on Saturday at Panorama’s tennis facility, Ayan Broomfield and Maria Patrascu defeated Wendy Zhang and Khristina Blakjevich in the third set super tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-4, 10-8.
En route to the win, Patrascu and Broomfield saved six match points and won three super tiebreakers.