Midnight Sun Tournament returns

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - After three years of cancellation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fairbanks Tennis Association has finally brought back the Midnight Sun Tournament.

With players as young as 13 and as old as 75, the weekend tournament was composed of 22 teams each playing in men’s, women’s or mixed doubles games. Many played in more than one division, however only 9 teams would make it to the finals.

Amongst the many competitors were high school tennis players all looking to get in some pre season competition. Familiar names include the Reinheller twins from West Valley along with Zia Siekmann, Mya Perkins and Tierra Kazenoff. From Lathrop, recent graduate Peter Park played alongside Matt Kim and making it to the finals for mixed doubles was Tifani Hollcraft and Aydan LaFond. Another prep athlete in the mixed doubles final was Oliver Pender from Monroe Catholic.

The champions for the Men’s doubles were Dejan Raskovic and Thomas Hammond who beat Patrick Cook and Rick Kedrowski with the following sets scores, 6:1; 6:2. As for the Women’s championship, it was a battle between Sabine Siekmann paired with Gina Pender taking on Jelica Stamatovic and Macy Legan. Winning 6:0; 6:0, Siekmann and Pender put themselves in first place. Finally for the mixed doubles, the partnering would prove interesting as Siekmann and Cook combined their skills against Stamatovic and Raskovic. The end result here was a second win for Siekmann and redemptive victory for Cook. The two won their sets with scores of 6:1 and 6:0.

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