Published: June 14, 2009 02:25 pm      

Tomato Fest Open draws large field

By Jay Neal

sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Far away from the carnival-like atmosphere of the Tomato Bowl area, a group of athletes are celebrating the annual Tomato Fest in a different way — by playing the game they love, tennis.

A large field of participants from across the region are competing in 17 divisions of the Tomato Fest Open which began Saturday morning and wraps up today at the Jacksonville High School Tennis complex.

According to Jacksonville High School head tennis coach David Hanna, the tournament got off to a smooth start Saturday and an abundance of competitive matches continued to take place throughout the warm-summer day.

Many familiar names, such as Mercer Day, Katy Day, Dylan Hanna and Sam Hopkins could be found on the various tournament brackets as the local tennis community, as well as participants from afar who centered their weekend around the tournament.

A nice size crowd cheered the players on from both sides of the courts at the JHS tennis courts.