Jan Choinski wins annual Berks pro tennis event at Emkey Tennis Garden
Great Britain’s Jan Choinski defeated countryman Billy Harris 6-1, 7-5 on Friday to claim the championship at the Performance Volvo Pro Tennis Challenge at the Emkey Tennis Garden in Wyomissing for the second consecutive year.
Choinski defeated the United States’ Andres Martin and India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan on Thursday in preliminary round robin play before defeating Harris in the final.
The event is a tune-up event for the U.S, Open which starts Monday at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center in New York with qualifying.
Choinski, Harris, Martin will all be in U.S. Open qualifying this coming week along with Benjamin Hassan of the country of Lebanon who will be competing for a spot in the main draw of the OPEN this coming week in New York.
Ramanathan will be looking to play in the main draw in doubles in the Open.
Also, taking place at the event, New Zealand Davis Cup player KP Pannu played the final match of his career Thursday night in a 3-set loss to Benjamin Hassan. Pannu will be retiring from professional tennis after the tournament and was given a video tribute from event director Ryan Knarr and the broadcast team at Cracked Rackets.
The event in its 6th year raised money for the IM ABLE Foundation and was able to raise $ 10,000 over the event including a $ 3,000 donation from title sponsor Performance Volvo cars for a new sports wheelchair for Jon Hayashi who is a competitive wheelchair tennis player.
Additionally on Friday morning, top nationally ranked junior Elizabeth Ionsecu of York, who will attend the University of Texas next year defeated WTA player Maria Kozyreva in an exhibition match in three sets.
Koyzreva then partnered with Hassan to defeat Ramanathan and Ionsecua in an exhibition mixed doubles match for the crowd at the Emkey Tennis Garden in Wyomissing. The event was underwritten by the Berks County Tennis Association.
“The Performance Volvo Pro Tennis Challenge was yet again able to showcase world class tennis again this year and show the true impact that tennis can have on the human spirit, ” said event director and current USTA Middle States President Ryan Knarr. “Together with Performance Volvo, the Emkey Family and the Berks County Tennis Association, we have been able to showcase world class tennis locally to Berks County while making an everlasting impact in the lives of others in wheelchair tennis and beyond through the IM ABLE Foundation. We are excited to have yet again welcomed the best in the tennis world in their preparation for the U.S. Open all for an amazing cause through this amazing cause.”
