Canberra’s Ros Balodis and Narelle Raftery have teamed up with Leanne Swaysland (NSW) and Wanda Howes (VIC) to lead Australia to victory in the Women’s 55+ Maureen Connelly Cup at the ITF World Teams Championships in Miami, Florida.
Balodis and Raftery played at the number 1 and 2 singles positions respectively, with Australia posting round robin wins over the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden to progress to the knockout stage. In the semifinals against Italy, Balodis and Raftery both won hard fought three set victories to send Australia to the decider against Germany. After Raftery dropped the opening singles, Balodis levelled the tie with a 6-4 7-5 victory over Helga Nauck (GER). Balodis then combined with Swaysland to win the doubles and claim the Maureen Connolly Cup for the second consecutive year.
Canberra’s other representative Leonie Ainsworth helped the Australian team to finish in 5th place in the Women’s 60+ Alice Marble Cup.
The Australian Men’s 60+ team also won gold, taking out the Vonn Cramm Cup.
In the ITF Seniors World Individual Championships Balodis then teamed up with Swaysland in the Women’s 55+ Doubles to win gold, her twelfth doubles gold medal. After surviving a scare in the opening round, the pair won their semifinal in straight sets before a convincing 6-3 6-1 win over Argentina’s Beatriz Villaverde and Marcela Voyame in the final.
More than 25 players from Australia travelled to the US to compete in the ITF Senior World Individual Championships. The Individual Championships are the highest ranked ITF Seniors event on the calendar and sees more than 500 players from more than 30 countries compete across three age categories 50-and-over, 55-and-over, and 60-and-over.
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