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Jan Proctor-Women's Open Champion
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Jocelyn Dettloff - Women's Open Runner Up
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Scott Cole - Mens B Singles Winner
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This year marks the first year the Midwest Wheelchair Championships has ventured outdoors to the new Orchard Hills Tennis Center, home of the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association at their brand new outdoor facility that was recently built in June. It proved to be a beautiful site with 12 outdoor courts and up to 8 indoor courts inside where the Quads played.
The tournament kicked off on Thursday night with registration, raffle drawings, open courts for hitting with local club players and a great Fiesta theme party with fajitas and salsa music!
Play ran all day Friday, Saturday and concluded with the finals on Sunday.
In the open divisions, Jan Proctor, from Delray Beach, Fl, captured her first wheelchair title by defeating Jocelyn Dettloff from Grand Rapids, MI 6-1, 6-2 in the finals.
In the Men’s Open division, Stephen Welch, 37 from Bedford, TX, is staging a comeback to competitive wheelchair tennis after a five year layoff. He defeated former Paralympian Stephane Goudou from Orleans, France 6-1, 6-1 to win the Men’s Open singles championship. Steve and Stephane paired up in doubles to take home the championship by defeating Russell Rodriguez of Nashville, TN and Marsten Anderson of Yorba Linda, CA 7-6, 6-3 in the title match.
In the Quad Division, David Jordan from Nashville, TN defeated Chris Studwell from N. Carolina 7-5, 6-4 in a very close match. Studwell and Pani Herath teamed up in doubles though to bring home victory by defeating David Harrison and Francois Trawalter with a 6-2, 6-1 commanding victory.
There were 54 athletes that competed from all across the United States including international athletes from France and Canada. There were also 17 Grand Rapids players that participated in this year’s event, the highest ever recorded and who are all members of the Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association, a local USTA CTA affiliated program.