Johan du Randt and Stephen Mitchell Garner RemedyOne Western NE Crown

November 26, 2019
Longmeadow, MA

2019 Western NE Men Final Results (doc), (pdf)

By Per Nilsson

In a tight, taut final, Boston-area platform pros Johan du Randt and Stephen Mitchell eked out a 7-6, 7-5 win over the Garden State duo of Drew Broderick and Marco Grangeiro in the RemedyOne Western New England NRT/Viking PCQ contested in Longmeadow, Mass. and surroundings on November 23. The winning tandem was not one of the four seeded teams in a deep and talented pool of 30 teams but was able to emerge victorious if by the narrowest of margins. There were predictions of good things to come after the du Randt/Mitchell team ousted top seeds Juan Arraya and Mark Parsons (and current national champions) in the semifinals, a match that saw du Randt play at an unbelievable level. The Broderick/Grangeiro team posted an equally impressive semifinal win over the second-seeded team of former national champ John Hughes and Ohio native Tyler Fraser, 6-3, 7-6.

New tournament sponsor RemedyOne, together with multiple (24) entities from among the members of the tournament host site, the Field Club of Longmeadow, provided $6,000 in prize money to be divided up among the contestants, in addition to substantial national ranking points, and the all-important bragging rights. The sponsorships also facilitated a bountiful array of food, refreshments, and tournament favors (socks) at the Field Club as well as the other tournament sites, Longmeadow Country Club, GreatHorse, and Suffield Country Club. A crowd of 150 or so hardy platform fans witnessed the semifinal action in brisk, but otherwise perfect platform tennis conditions; a lesser number equally dedicated were there for the compelling final completed close to 8PM.

Other achievements of note throughout the long day of play were Adam Mirsky and Evan Paushter, who snuck by Andre Ivarsson and Devin Wakeford, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the Consolation final; Niko Bubnic and Christo Schultz were Consolation Reprieve winners over Cary Greenberg and Mike Roselli by scores of 6-3, 6-3. Meanwhile, in a loaded Quarterfinal Reprieve bracket, Sven Burus and Chris Humphreys narrowly prevailed against Martin Bostrom and Thomas Nolan, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.

A dedicated crew of volunteers joined together to provide an efficiently run event with cutting edge connections between the various tournament venues. Zero players (reportedly) got lost en route between sites. A Facebook video feed was streaming live throughout the day. And there was fun. In a tournament debut, the player/spectator “you must be present to win” raffle (effectively-handled by the Field Club’s Jeff Morneau) was well received and may well be expanded in future years.

The APTA thanks Tournament Director Jeff Morneau, all the players, and the volunteers and fans for an excellent platform tennis event.

L to R: Finalists Marco Grangeiro/Drew Broderick Winners Johan du Randt/Stephen Mitchell