4 August 2011 | Tennis Queensland

The No.3 seeded all Queensland Australian team has won the first two days of round-robin competition at the ITF World Junior Tennis Competition. 

The team, which is comprised of Naiktha Bains (Brisbane), Lizette Cabrera (Townsville) and Olivia Tjandramulia (Rockhampton), has defeated Morocco 2-1 and Argentina 2-1 in the prestigious tournament currently underway in Prostejov, Czech Republic. The team now needs to win against undefeated Slovenia in order to finish on top of their group and progress to the finals.

The event began with an opening ceremony with surprise guest, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, and the girls were excited to have the chance to meet and have their photos taken with her.

Team captain Wayne Arthurs is proud of the way the girls are rising to the challenge, and coping with difficult situations.

“I am very happy with the girls progress so far, they have put  themselves in a position to contest for a semifinal place when they play the Slovenians. It’s going to be a very tough assignment but the girls are very passionate about playing for Australia and will be giving it all for the green and gold,” Arthurs said.

Results and quotes from players and Wayne Arthurs follow:

Australia def Morocco 2-1

Lizette Cabrera (AUS) def Lina Qostal                                                              7-5 6-7(5) 6-4

Naiktha Bains (AUS) def Zainab El Hourai                                                       7-5 6-1

Zainab El Hourai/Rita Attik def Naiktha Bains/Olivia Tjandramulia 7-5 6-3

Wayne Arthurs:

“In the first match Lizette Cabrera won her match 7-5 6-7 6-4 in just under three hours. In constant drizzle, it has rained every day since we have been here, she battled her way past the Moroccan No.3. She showed good fighting qualities and determination, after having squandered a 5-2 lead in the second set tie breaker, to hold her nerve and squeak out a well fought win.”

Lizette Cabrera:

 “I didn’t play my best tennis today, but gave 100% and got us off to a winning start”.”

Wayne Arthurs:

“Naiktha played the Moroccan No.1 and won 7-5 6-1, in continual drizzle also. She also battled, and has been battling throughout this European trip to find the form she displayed in the Kuching qualifying event, but found some good form towards the end of the first set to close it out with a service break and continued to dominate in the second set. Her forehand accuracy and power returned in the second set as did the Naiktha Bains strut, it was a good sign for the upcoming tougher matches within our group pool. 

Naiktha Bains:

“ I stayed positive throughout the match and played some good aggressive  tennis in the second set.”

Bains/Tjandramulia lost the doubles. “They  were working on some set patterns of play that will hopefully be finely tuned  for matches that may decide Ties later in the week. So it was a lose but a positive lose”. Arthurs

Australia def Argentina 2-1

Olivia Tjandramulia def Julieta Estable                                                                          6-2 7-5

Naiktha Bains def Edith Avelen Monzon                                                                         6-4 7-5

Julieta Estable/Daniela Farfan def Lizette Cabrera/Oliva Tjandramulia       6-7(7) 7-5 7-5

Wayne Arthurs:

“Olivia played her first representative singles for Australia today and had a very good win. She got off to a great start and follow her game plan very well. She breezed through the first set to win it 6-2 against a very talented opponent. She hit the ball with good variety and accuracy throughout the second set and dominated until a little nerves set in. At 6-2 5-1 up she held  a match point and didn’t convert, at 5-3 up had another didn’t convert, at 5-4 had another and didn’t convert but finally held her nerve and won the match 6-2 7-5.”

Olivia Tjandramulia:

“ I was really nervous in the beginning of the match but I played well today.  I am very happy to have won my first ever singles match representing Australia.”

Naiktha Bains:

“I am getting better each day, tomorrow is a big test against Slovenia  and I am ready for a big fight.

The 16 teams in the competition are divided into four round-robin groups and the winner of each group will progress to the knockout stage with the finals to take place on Saturday.

In 2011 the Australian girls team of Ashleigh Barty (Qld), Isabella Beischer (Vic) and Lyann Hoang (Qld) won the bronze medal at this event.