By Jonathan Leask  February 1, 2012

Mid Canterbury Tennis has again impressed their international guests.

The ITF under 18 Summer Championship finals were on Saturday, bringing to a close what was a successful tournament and opened the door to the Ashburton Trust Tennis Centre hosting more big events.
"Everyone enjoyed themselves over the week and it culminated with a great pair of finals on Saturday," Mid Canterbury tennis president Cynthia Christie said.
"It certainly put Mid Canterbury Tennis and our facility right on the map.
"A lot of the players and coaches were gobsmacked at the size and quality of our facility in what they considered to be a smaller rural area."
The tournament followed the hosting of the Senior World Team Tennis Championships in February last year and the two successful hosting efforts see more tournaments on the horizon.
"We are now hosting the New Zealand national 16s teams event at Easter.
"Once again it is a tournament that Canterbury Tennis was due to host but with Wilding Park out of action they have asked us to play
host."
While Ashburton will benefit from a few more Canterbury tournaments, the ITF Junior tournament is a highly important annual event on the Canterbury Tennis calendar, one that could again be held in Ashburton.
"It is probably their most important regular tournament on the calendar and because of its international status they won't want to lose it.
"We've done a good job and if Canterbury Tennis can't get their own facilities operational next year there is the potential that we could host it again."

Pictured: French player Anais Nussaume warms up with her coach Pierre Sequier before a game last week.

Photo Tetsuro Mitomo