Santa Barbara’s Graham Maassan and Logan Cates of Ojai captured the singles titles at the Santa Barbara City Tennis Championships over the weekend.
The tournament, conducted by the Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons, drew 136 players from all over the state. They competed in five divisions under a format that utilized a feed-in draw system.
The system allowed players of different levels to participate in one big draw and still have competitive matches, explained tournament director Greg Tebbe.
“It is great to see teenagers competing against 60 year olds and having very competitive matches,” he said. “The goal of our open tournaments is to bring players of all ages and levels of ability together in one big event. Our tennis community is starting to appreciate this new format and we plan to continue with it in 2023. And, we also plan to add to the number of tournaments we offer the community.”
The men’s, women’s and mixed open singles and doubles events offered $2,000 in total prize money.
Maassan defeated Vasyl Yazadhiev, 6-2, 6-2, for the Men’s Singles title.
In the Women’s Singles final, Cates beat Grace Balasian of Burbank, 6-3, 6-0.
Local players swept the doubles titles. The SBCC duo of Paul Vander Stichele and Arnaud Vangenechten won the men’s final over the Dos Pueblos High tandem of Keaton Cross and Daniel Truong, 6-3, 6-3.
In a battle of Channel League rivals, Natasha Gill and Kate Selby of San Marcos defeated Santa Barbara High’s Caitlyn Buist and Charlotte Ryan, 6-3, 6-2 for the Women’s Singles crown.
The Mixed Open title went to the brother-and-sister team of Vasyl and Mina Yazadhiev. They defeated Marycarmen Martinez-Kladt and Alex King of Santa Clarita, 6-1, 6-1.
For more information on tennis tournaments run by the Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons please, visit their website at sbtennispatrons.com