Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

WHEELING — The week-long Bordas & Bordas W.Va. Open Tennis Tournament came to a close Sunday on the sun-drenched courts at the Horne Family Racquet Center inside Oglebay Park with a local duo claiming a championship and a Wheeling resident being inducted into the Wheeling Oglebay Tennis Club Hall of Fame.

Billie Jo Johnston and Kenneth Dearth won the 50-and-over Mixed Doubles championship in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-3.

It was the first title of any kind for Johnston and Dearth despite their teaming up since 2016. They had never reached the finals before.

“We had never even won a set (as a team) prior to Saturday,” Johnston, a Wheeling Central alum, said. “We won three sets this week.”

Both agreed on the key to winning.

“We just had fun,” Johnston said.

“Just relax and have fun,” Dearth, a Wheeling Park grad, added. “Enjoy the moment.”

Johnston said she played tennis as a child but stopped playing due to a knee injury. She returned to the court in 2016 following the death of her mother.

“That inspired me to get back on the court.”

Dearth began playing tennis at a young age at the urgence of his father.

“My dad put a racquet in my hand at the age of 5, so I’ve been playing tennis a long time.”

Dr. Harold Pickens, who grew up outside of Martins Ferry and was a member of the last graduating class at Mount Pleasant High School in 1972, was not shocked by his induction, but humbled.

“I knew it was coming,” he admitted. “I’ve always helped out around here with the various tournaments, but not for this reason. My son, Jeremy McClelland, is a teaching pro here and my wife, Debbie, runs several of the events. I also play a lot myself. I’m not a person to sit around and watch everyone else work.

“It was very rewarding,” he said when it was finally announced. “I think there are a lot of people out there that are worthy of this honor. It takes a lot of people to run an event like this.”

Although he has been playing tennis for much of his life, the 70-year-old has never won a title.

“I wish I could say I’m that good of a tennis player, but I’m not,” he said with a smile. “I’m in a playoff for third place this afternoon in my age group.

“I started playing tennis when I was in college at Ohio State and when I moved back to the Ohio Valley in 1983 and started my (eye) clinic in Bellaire there was a group of doctors that played tennis. I got involved with them right away and it blossomed into this.”

In the premier divisions, the men’s and women’s open finals, both champions are no strangers to the winner’s circle.

In the men’s final, top-seeded Loren Byers, of Greensburg, Pa., won for the third year in a row when he defeated No. 2 Mitch Maroscher, of Salem, Ohio, by scores of 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3.

Byers, who will graduate from Penn State in the near future, missed his entire senior season with the Nittany Lions due to back issues.

It marked the second consecutive year Byers has defeated Maroscher, a Youngstown State product and former W.Va. Open champ, in the finals.

Maroscher advanced with a semifinal win over Wheeling’s Jeremy McClelland, while Byers ousted Austin Bosgraf, of Williamstown, W.Va.

On the women’s side, second-seeded Lindsay Graff, of Pittsburgh, won in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-1 over top-seeded DianaTkachenko, of Pittsburgh who played collegiately at Evansville and Kentucky. It was also Graff’s third title in the last four years.

Graff won in 2021 and 2022.

Graff defeated Amelia Williams, of Trafford, Pa., in her semifinal match. Tkachenko eliminated Pittsburgh’s Bethany Yauch.