Take a bow, players, and a deep breath. It’s hard to know where to start with the wrap up of last night’s finals of the POWER CLEAN JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL.
The first match was one we will not forget in a hurry, top seed Alice STEVENS (Perth) was up against challenger Taylah LESSUE (Adelaide).
Both girls were strong coming into the finals. Stevens was quick out of the blocks winning the first set, but Lessue was in no mood to have anything but a battle, and she brought that fight to the court.
We were treated to 3 sets of tennis at a very high standard, with many twists and turns and wonderful shot-making. A fight to the absolute end, both girls wanted to win and would not give up.
Congratulations to Alice STEVENS for taking home the win and the finals trophy, and also to Taylah LESSUE for her performance and making it to her first ITF final. We are sure we will see more exciting tennis from both girls for years to come.
The boys final was up next with wildcard Michael SMITH (Adelaide) up against fifth seed Luka VUJACIC (Perth). Smith had been on a break from tennis due to injuries, so he was happy to be coming back into good rhythm all the way into the finals!
The boys final started with an emphatic first set from Smith, but the second set was very tight. Smith had a thundering serve and smash while Vujacic’s strength is his beautiful passing shots. Both boys know each other’s game very well, and so this was a match with wonderful rallys and athleticism.
SMITH was happy to take the finals win, and like both of the girls, was looking forward to playing in the doubles finals after a short break following the singles.
Both of the singles finals had the benefit of being supported by our local NT Ballkids crew. The NT Ballkids make every match better and have quickly shown how high their standards are too.
Then to the Doubles action, Alice STEVENS and Vesna MARINKOV won against Taylah LESSUE and Georgia CAMPBELL.
Next at the boys Doubles, Michael SMITH and his partner Bryan DICKSON beat Heaton PANN and Jenson YAKOTA-HO.
ITF (International Tennis Federation) events like the POWER CLEAN JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL and the upcoming NT JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL are recognised as events for the best performing juniors globally. Winning a match at this tournament, contributes towards the player’s junior world ranking.
At the POWER CLEAN JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL, players came from all over Australia, and from overseas including the USA, Japan, China, Korea and Poland to play our event in the NT.
POWER CLEAN DARWIN JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL – Full Results
Photo album on Facebook
Event team: Tennis NT & Darwin International Tennis Centre
Where: Darwin International Tennis Centre
Tournament Director: Rhett McKinnon (Tennis QLD)
Tournament Referee: Louise Murphy
Massive thanks to all of our officials and our team of ballkids!
NEXT EVENT:
We look forward to sharing more tennis news from the next ITF event, the NT JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL which starts Monday 3rd June. Play kicks off daily at 9am at the Darwin International Tennis Centre at Marrara.
Finals will be on Friday 7th June. Come and watch some of the world’s best juniors in action, here in the NT.
See you at the tennis!
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