The final match of the Canada Games 2022, saw Team BC take on Quebec at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Tennis Club in a phenomenal  Gold-medal match. Both teams had played brilliantly to get to this point, and the final was sure to be a battle.

Mélodie Collard set the tone early for Quebec with a straight-sets win over Leena Bennetto of BC. Qing Xu Kuang of Quebec bested Denny Bau in a  match that culminated in a third-set tie break.  Quebec was showing no sign of slowing down as Maxime St-Hilaire took his team up 3-0 with a straight-sets win over Aram Narozian.

BC answers back

Now down 3-0, BC answered back as Reece Carter of BC battled back against Annabelle Xu (ranked #21 in junior-world rankings), with Carter winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Doubles gave BC a chance at victory as BC’s Alessia Cau and Emma Dong defeated Naomi Xu and Usereau in three sets, while Henry Ren and Connor Church of BC were victorious over You and Kova, winning in three sets.

Gold medal decided by tie break

With the score now tied at 3-3, the Mixed Doubles would be the deciding match. Melodie Collard and Maxime St-Hilaire of Quebec faced off against Reece Carter and Aram Narozian of BC. The BC pair took the first set 7-5, but Collard and St-Hilaire fought back, winning the second set 6-3. The gold medal would come down to a 10-point super tie breaker.

Despite the brilliant BC comeback, the tie-break’s momentum quickly swung in favour of the Quebec team who never looked back, winning 10-4. It was a great battle by Team BC and it came down to a difference of a few points in the end. Team BC showed tremendous fight under pressure and grace in a heartbreaking end to a great campaign. Congratulations are in order for winning the silver medal and for representing your province so admirably.

Team BC are:

Leena Bennetto

Reece Carter

Henry Ren

Aram Narozian

Alesia Cau

Emma Dong

Conner Church

Denny Bao