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Tennis pair sizzle in Colwood sun

Speedy ‘A’ final caps Gllangcolme mixed doubles tournament
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Johanne Mui readies for a volley as playing partner Alan Osborne returns a serve during the A final of the Gllangcolme Tennis Festival. The duo beat Peter and Damaris Brix 6-1

The top seeds put on a clinic in the ‘A’ final of the Gllangcolme Tennis Festival on Sunday.

Johanne Mui of Saanich and North Saanich’s Alan Osborne made short work of five-time event champions Peter and Damaris Brix, winning 6-1, 6-0 to collect their second mixed doubles title in three years under a hot late afternoon sun at the Langford Tennis Club.

“It’s usually a tighter match when we play them,” Mui said. “It was closer than the score would indicate.”

Bolstered by Osborne’s lightning serves and the unflinching net play of Mui, the winners never let the Brixes back into the match after winning the first four games in the first set.

“We’ve always had tough matches against them,” Osborne said. “We know their game fairly well. Peter’s a world-class badminton player with a great smash, so we tried to stay away from the overhands, and we tried to keep Damaris running.”

Peter Brix said the match started off on the wrong foot when he had trouble getting his serves in. From then on, he said, it was tough to play catchup.

“They were just returning everything and didn’t give us an opening,” he said.

Even one of the blazing overhands he managed to hit during one spirited rally was sent back, Brix said, throwing up his hands in mock surrender.

The Brixes have won the tournament five times previous, but as Peter noted, “the top four teams on any given day can win it.”

Damaris Brix singled out the serving of Osborne as a key factor in the match.

“Alan served very well. I think he aced both of us three or four times,” she said.

Osborne acknowledged that serving is a big part of his game.

“If I’m not serving well, I’m not going to be playing with Johanne very often,” he said with a chuckle.

Mui and Osborne beat Tracy and Carmine Antonacci 7-5, 7-6 in the semifinal, while the Brixes downed Amanda Heffelfinger and Steve Perks 7-6, 6-4.

Sunday’s other finals saw Wendy Whibley and Lauren Banerd defeat Sue Grandmaison and Sajan Joseph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the B division, while Sandi Johnson and Mike Carey took the C event title when Bev and Bill Wilson defaulted. Johnson and Carey had beat Sherri Andrews and Alfred Hass 6-3, 7-6 in the C semifinals.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com