Masters Update by Abrysvo: Near Sweep for Canadians in Bedford

The ITF Masters Tour was back in Canada in October with a MT100 event being held at the Sobeys Atlantic Tennis Centre in Bedford, Nova Scotia, the Atlantic Masters. It was a strong tournament for the host nation as Canadians accounted for all but one title. 

Here is the monthly Masters tennis update by Abrysvo.  

Smaller fields were a feature in Bedford, with only six singles draws, four of which were round robins and one other only had two competitors. 

Only the men’s 60+ singles was a standard knockout bracket. Top seed James Piggott came through that one to win the title, not dropping a set and capping off the run with a win over his second-seeded countryman Brian Hall 7-5, 7-5 in the final.  

Piggott was the only player to win both the singles and doubles in their age group, claiming the doubles with Donnie Ehler. The doubles event was a round robin and the pair did not drop a set. 

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Lisa Tooley was also a double champion in Bedford. The 61-year-old defeated Elise St-Antoine to win the 60+ women’s singles title and teamed up with Sandy Mackie to claim the 40+ women’s doubles. 

Israel’s Maria Kupitman was the only non-Canadian to win a title at the Atlantic Masters, claiming the 40+ women’s singles. 

Here is the full list of winners (Canadian unless otherwise noted):  

One final ITF Masters Tour event will be held in Canada in 2024, the MT100 Wilson Victoria Masters in Victoria, BC. The tournament is running from Nov. 6 to 10. Click here to see the draws and results.

ITF Results 

The best results Canada had on the ITF Masters Tour over the last month came in Dubai, with one champions trophy being claimed as well as a runner-up finish at the MT200 event. 

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Omar Rashid claimed the 50+ men’s singles title, his fourth on the ITF tour and first outside of Canada. Rashid was the third seed and got to the final without dropping a set, including a straight-set win over the top seed Tarek Moussa of Egypt in the semis. He beat second-seeded American Birj Menon in the match tiebreak 5-7, 6-3, 10-2 to claim the title. 

Sara Khadem also played for the title in the women’s 30+ singles in Dubai but lost in the final to Britain’s Svitlana Grytsenko. 

The biggest win of the month came in Charleston, where Hannah Blatt won the MT400 women’s doubles title in the 30+ bracket. She partnered with American Ryan Reichel and the tandem did not drop a set, losing just 11 games on their way to the title. It was the first ITF title for Blatt. 

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At the MT100 event in Athens, Nikolaos Roditis was completely outnumbered by the host nation in the 45+ men’s singles but managed to sneak through to claim victory. Roditis was the only non-Greek player in the 23-man field. 

After escaping his opening match with a 4-6, 7-6(7), 11-9 win, Roditis did not drop a set the rest of the way, beating top seed Michael Orfanidis in the final 6-4, 6-4 to win his fourth ITF singles title.