Team BC plays for gold in mixed team tennis

The sun was back out on Thursday for a long day of tennis at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club for Team BC at the 2017 Canada Summer Games. First up was the mixed team event semifinal, where Team BC faced off against Team Quebec.  

The singles matches were evenly split, with the Team BC women’s singles taking both of theirs while Team Quebec prevailed in the men’s singles. Then it was the doubles turn. The Team BC boys won their match but the girls did not. To break the 3-3 tie, teams played a mixed doubles tiebreaker match. 

Team BC was represented in the tiebreaker by Jack Davis and Sasha Vagramov, both of Port Moody. There were plenty of vocal supporters for both teams, making for a raucous atmosphere as the deciding match began.

BC took the first set 6-3. Quebec came back in the second, winning 6-4. In the third and final set, the lead switch back and forth several times until it was tied at 4. Davis and  Vagramov kept their focus and pulled ahead to claim the win 6-4, taking the match 2 sets to 1.

Asked about the noisy crowd after the match, Vagramov noted that it was a bit unusual for tennis, but not a problem for her. “When they are with you, it’s so good – and when they’re against you, it gives you motivation.”

Team BC faces Team Ontario in the gold medal match of the mixed team event on Friday morning.

Following the mixed team event, several team BC athletes had quarter-final matches in the individual events. Men’s doubles team Aaron Diemer (Victoria) and Jovan Sihota (North Vancouver) defeated Nova Scotia in three sets, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3. Women’s doubles Yasmin Mansouri (West Vancouver) and Sasha Vagramov (Port Moody) defeated Newfoundland in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.