Enniskillen Tennis Club was the venue for the West of Ulster Junior Open Tennis Tournament last weekend.

The tournament hasn’t been played since 2019 because of Covid-19, but this break hadn’t dampened the enthusiasm of young tennis players as more than 90 juniors signed up for the tournament that was proudly sponsored by Monaghan Bros.

Players from across the island travelled to the tournament, with players from Dublin, Dundalk, Belfast and many other clubs coming together in the name of the sport.

Local players were also out in force, with Enniskillen Tennis Club juniors comprising a third of the entries.

Lucy Rice kicked-off the early local successes with an U-12 Girls Singles win against the number-two seed from Letterkenny on Friday afternoon.

The novice event had three Enniskillen players through to the semi-finals.

Owen Hoogerboord made it to the final edging, past fellow clubmate Evanna McCreesh, where he met Tillie Cunningham.

This turned out to be a fantastic final with many long rallies that enthralled the spectators. Tillie won the first set in a very close battle and was able to push forward in the second and take the title 7/5, 6/2.

Tillie then partnered her opponent, Owen, and the pair took the Novice Doubles title.

In the Boys’ U-12 Singles, Enniskillen player Jack Rice had a very close match in the semi-finals against Ballymena’s Ianis Filip.

Jack played with great skill and determination, narrowly losing to the eventual event winner, 7/5, 6/4.

Enniskillen’s Maebh Donnelly played impressive tennis all weekend and took the Girls’ U-12s consolation.

The Boys’ U-16 Singles was an event full of drama and close matches.

Enniskillen’s Sam Morrison had a fantastic win in the quarter final against Donegal’s Bobby Sweeney – 16/14 in the championship tie break!

Sam fought hard in the semi-finals against the number-one seed, Limavady’s Adam Thompson. In a close-fought encounter, Adam won 7/6, 6/4.

It was now up to Enniskillen’s Jonah Balfour in the other half of the draw to bring the title home.

It was a final full of big hitting from both players.

Adam took the first set 6/2. Jonah changed things up in the second set, using all his skill to produce a masterclass of variety and deft touches and took the set, 6/1.

However, with a big crowd watching, Adam was able to turn things back around and won the championship tie break, 10/5.

Enniskillen player Carla Smith reached the semi-finals of the Girls’ U-16s with a quarter final win over Bangor’s Claudia Simms. This match went to a championship tie break in which Carla used her big forehand to take control and take the match.

In all, there were 107 tennis matches played over the three days. Enniskillen junior committee member Anne-Marie Rice paid tribute to the amazing standard of play from the junior players and the amount of work that the junior committee had put into organising the event.

The results of the finals were as follows (see panel).

Novice Singles Winner: Tillie Cunningham.

Runner-up: Owen Hoogerboord.

Novice Doubles Winners: Tillie Cunningham and Owen Hoogerboord.

U-12 Boys’ Singles Winner: Ianis Filip.

Runner-up: Ethan Brooksbank-Pearcy.

U-12 Girls’ Singles Winner: Aryia Pringle-Quinn.

Runner up: Gabriela Lelikova.

U-14 Boys’ Singles Winner: Tristan Long.

Runner-up: Oliver Hall.

U-14 Girls’ Singles Winner: Mary O’Callaghan.

Runner up: Erin Bond.

U-14 Boys’ Doubles Winners: Jack Branda and Tristan Long. Runners-up: Paul O’Keeney and Sam Sweeney.

U-14 Doubles Winners: Iona Macgabhann and Sarah Sweeney.

Runners-up: Aaron and Kiera Hoogerboord.

U-16 Boys’ Singles Winner: Adam Thompson.

Runner-up: Jonah Balfour.

U-16 Girls’ Singles Winner: Erin Bond.

Runner-up: Mary O’Callaghan.

U-18 Boys’ Singles Winner: Andrew Hatrick.

Runner-up: Luka Browne.

U-18 Girls’ Singles Winner: Sienna McKenna.

Runner-up: Claudia Simms.

U-18 Boys Doubles Winners: Hogan O’Haire and Bobby Sweeney.

Runners-up: Cian Blake and Luka Browne.