The North Africa country of Tunisia is known for its ancient architecture, shops and its blue coasts. It sits on the Mediterranean Sea, and the Sahara Desert’s northern reaches can be found within its borders.
Tunisia has also produced a great women’s tennis player, Ons Jabeur. She has five professional tournament titles under her racquet, and the current No. 10 in the world has been ranked as high as No. 2.
Vernon’s Leena Bennetto happens to be two-for-two in professional tournaments in Tunisia.
Bennetto, a Canada Day baby who turned 21 July 1, played a pair of International Tennis Federation women’s doubles tournament in the North African country, winning both. Bennetto and her partners lost just one set in taking the titles.
In the first event, Bennetto teamed with Indonesia’s Janice Tjen, who reached the NCAA women’s doubles final playing as a senior for Pepperdine University in California before losing. The duo dropped the first set of their opening match before winning six straight sets to claim the tournament.
Two weeks later, Bennetto partnered up with American Julia Adams and swept their way to the championship without dropping a set. They beat Chen and her partner, Ella Simmons of Australia, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
Bennetto played as a pro beginning at 15 though her last event was nearly six years ago, according to opencourt.ca, when she reached the quarterfinals of an tournament in Granby, Que.
Bennetto – now home for a rest before resuming play this summer with tournaments in Vancouver and Saskatoon – is coming off her junior (third) year at Princeton University, the Ivy League school in New Jersey.
She helped the Tigers win the Ivy League Women’s Conference Championship in 2024. The team, ranked No. 43 in the NCAA rankings, defeated No. 27 University of Washington in the first round of the NCAA championship before being eliminated in the second round by the University of Virginia Cavaliers.
Bennetto and Princeton teammate Maia Sung were named to the College Sports Communicators 2024 Academic All-District Women’s Tennis Team. Bennetto is studying psychology.
She is slated to return to Princeton for her final year of collegiate sports in August.
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