29 March 2013 | Tennis Queensland

In what proved to be the match of the day at the Bundaberg Tennis International, South Australia’s Colin Ebelthite took on the third seed and defending champion from Queensland, Jason Kubler. Ebelthite took the opening set with only one break of serve, and held a 3-0 lead in the second set. Kubler, the former world number one junior decided that he was not going to exit the tournament without a fight, eventually wrestling the set into his control and winning it in a tiebreak. The Queenslander showed maturity and control of the final set, eventually prevailing 5-7 7-6 6-3 in a marathon 3 hour match.

Unfortunately, the local luck was not to be continued for fellow Queenslanders Michael Look and Gavin Van Peperzeel. Fourth seed New South Welshman Dane Propoggia didn’t waste any time in his comprehensive 6-0 6-3 result over Look [5] in under ninety minutes. Peperzeel was celebrating his 21^st birthday today; however, his celebrations were cut short when he came up against the second seed from New Zealand, Rubin Statham. Statham showed why he is ranked inside the top 300 in the world, defeating Van Peperzeel 6-3 6-2.

In other men’s matches, top seed James Duckwoth took on the seventh seed Jordan Thompson. Thompson unexpectedly surprised the top seed early by taking the first set, but Duckworth demonstrated his experience, eventually prevailing 4-6 6-3 6-1 against his younger opponent.

Every match of the women’s quarter finals pitted an Australian up against an international player. In what proved to be the upset of the day, Japan’s fifth seed Yurika Sema was the only international winner in the women’s event, defeating the top seed, Olivia Rogowska. Rogowska held a commanding 4-1 lead in the final set, but Sema found her composure and fought to eventually win the match 6-7 6-0 6-4. The rest of the Australian ladies had better luck in their quarter final matches. Sacha Jones stamped her authority on the tournament with a commanding 6-3 6-4 win over Thailand’s Nicha  Lertpitaksinchai. Viktorija Rajicic has taken the hard road having to come through the qualifying event, and today defeated her higher fancied opponent, also from Thailand, the fourth seed Nudnida Luangnam 7-6 6-3. Continuing her form from last week’s Pro Tour event, Storm Sanders from Victoria defeated the second seed from Japan, Erika Sema 6-4 7-5.

The doubles finals were also played today. On the women’s side, it was a completely international final which saw the pair of Su Jeong Jang and So-Ra Lee from Korea defeat Miki Miyamura  and Varatchaya Wongteanchai from Japan and Thailand respectively 7-6 4-6 10-8. In what was some scintillating doubles action, the all Australian mens pair of Colin Ebelthite and Ryan Agar were outplayed, going down 6-3 6-2 to Dane Propoggia and Rubin Statham from Australia and New Zealand respectively.

Tomorrow will see the singles semi finals being played at the Drinan Park Tennis Centre. Entry is free all weekend with the singles finals played from 11:00am on Sunday morning.