Last weekend's dismal weather was't enough to deter participants in the fourth annual Tennis Yukon Association's Territorial Championship, which finished last Sunday evening.

The tournament began at 6:30 p.m. last Thursday. It drew 35 competitors in nine divisions, featuring male and female single and doubles matches, mixed doubles, senior women's and three youth divisions for contestants under 18, under 14 and under 12.

The championship was held at the newly re-surfaced Mount McIntyre courts, a highly anticipated change to the facility, which fared well for the tournament.

"The new courts were great, it was working very well,” said head coach Jan Polivka. "It's a nice course and it's new. It was a week after paving, we did the opening ceremony on Thursday and we started playing right after.”

Polivka won the hotly contested male singles event after two matches against his student, Kieran Halliday, this year's under-18 champion, finishing with scores of 6-3 and 6-1.

He and Laurie Drummond also defeated runners-up Jerry and Kaitlin Wald in the mixed doubles event, winning two sets with scores of 6-1 and 7-5.

Because Mount McIntyre is an outdoor facility, this year's tournament lay at the mercy of Mother Nature. Last Friday's rainfall slowed the weekend's event, delaying completion for nearly five hours on Sunday.

"We started the tournament on Thursday afternoon. Those matches were finished on Thursday but on Friday afternoon we were rained out, so everything was postponed by a few hours,” said Polivka.

Despite the rain, Polivka said this year had some major highlights, especially in the junior events, which saw local champ Kieran Halliday win in two rounds against fellow Western Canada Summer Games team mate, Khang Pham.

Halliday scored 6-1 and 6-3 to take home the under-18 title. In the under-14 division, Trygg Jensen won an eight match round robin, overcoming second-place finisher Alex Roberts, who won five games.

The 2011 tournament was a major accomplishment for the under-12 division as well.

All three competitors – Amanda Thomson, Ben Kischuk and Heather Thomson – won a match but first place title went to Kischuk with Heather Thomson taking second place.

As head coach, the achievements of the junior players were a highlight for Polivka.

"I would like to say that our juniors programs have done very well. We saw it in the Western Canada Games and again we proved ourselves with this championship,” he said.

Whitehorse's Laurie Drummond won the most events this year.

On top of her shared victory with Polivka, she took home the women's single's title in a round robin, scoring 8-4 against second-place Nicola Pritchett and the women's doubles, alongside her daughter, Marisa Johnson. The pair won their round robin match, 8-0.

This year's senior women's singles winner was Lisa Pan, who won a round robin match 8-2, with second place going to Rose Mallet.

Though the event has finished, there are still a few games to be played. The winners of the men's doubles, Jerry Wald and Ken Liao, have been announced, but since it is a round robin competition, the other six teams still have to face off to determine the runners-up. Those matches will take place this week.

If this summer is any indication, 2012 will be another big year for the Yukon team.

The Tennis Yukon Association will host another territorial championship as well as the capital cup next summer, and hopes to send its juniors to two tournaments to be held in Vancouver. The team will also head to Juneau in March for another Capital Cup.

Polivka said last weekend's victories proved that Yukon tennis is getting stronger every year. But he adds that the weekend's poor weather offered a valuable lesson for those who want to see the sport advance even further in the territory.

"I think our players are now comparable with any players from other provinces,” he said.

"But I think if we had indoor facilities, we would have a chance to get a medal. We are already starting to discuss it, it's difficult because it is a lot of money, it's a big investment, but our president, Stacy Lewis, and our board are discussing it; they are talking about it,” he said.

Politics aside, Polivka is proud of his team and their accomplishments at the tournament.

"It was a great event, and it was a great year, too.”