Days 10 and 11 of the Showdown were completed over the weekend with SA athletes winning 2 National Doubles Title, one National Singles Finalist and three National Doubles Finalist’s.
Brad Mousley won his 18/u Quarter Final against Omar Jasika 6/4, 6/4, Thanasi Kokkinakis won his Quarter Final against Marc Polmans 6/2, 6/4. Both SA boys met one another in the Semi Final in what was a fine display of tennis. Brad got off to a great start winning the 1st set 6/3, then Thanasi fought back hard to win 6/0, 6/3. Thanasi then went onto to play Nick Kyrigos in the final. In what was clearly the best match of the event Nick defeated Thanasi 6/4, 4/6, 6/4.
Brad Mousley won the 18s Nationals Doubles championship with Nick Kyrigos over Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jack Schipanski.
Brad and Thanasi’s performance over the week and from throughout the year earnt both boys a position in the 2013 Australian Open Wildcard Playoff. It will be the first time for both boys that they will play a best of 5 set match. Thanasi has drawn number 8 seed Matthew Barton who is currently ranked 425 in the world and Brad has drawn number 5 seed Ben Mitchell who is currently ranked 324 in the world. The other South Australian athlete in the field is current AIS athlete Luke Saville who enters the tournament as the 6th seed with a current World Ranking of 342.
In the Girls 18/u Doubles Brooke Rischbieth survived two 3 set cliff hangers to progress to the National Doubles final with her partner Lizette Cabrera. The girls lost the final to Queensland’s Priscilla Hon and Olivia Tjandramulia.
In the Girls 14s National Doubles -SA’s Nicole Kraemer won her 1st ever National Doubles title where she partnered with Destanee Aiava to win the final 6/3, 6/1. In the 14s Singles Petra Hule finished 7th and Nicole Kreamer finished 10th.
As already mentioned Day 12 will see the Men’s AO Wildcard play off begin, but it also signifies the beginning of the 16s Nationals and 12s Teams Event.
In the 16s Nationals the next 2 days will see eight SA athletes all competing for a spot into the 16s National Championship. The 2012 Girls 16/under Qualifying draw will see 5 SA athletes competing (Mimi Ahern-Briggs, Claudia May, Madison Frahn, Petra Hule and Maria Lobanova). In the Boys 16/u Qualifying draw 3 SA athletes will be competing (Jonathan Norodom, Mislav Bosnjak and Kurtis Wilson). All athletes here will need to win 3 rounds to gain entry into the 16s Main Draw on Wednesday where 4 SA athletes have already made it through with their ranking.
In the 12s Teams Event their is a quiet air of confidence. The 12s SA Girls Team begins the Margaret Court Cup as the Number 1 Seeds. The team consisting of Jeanette Lin, Selina Turulja and Tahlia Van Der Eerden and managed by Sharon Hambly will begin proceedings against ACT/NSW’s today. The SA Boys Team begins the Rod Laver Cup as the Number 3 Seeds. The team consisting of Stefan Norodom, Sam May and Sean Van Rensburg and managed by Jim Chaousis will also begin their campaign today in the afternoon against ACT/NSW’s.
So this Monday will see 17 SA athletes competing throughout Melbourne Park on an action packed day. As mentioned Sharon Hambly and Jim Chaousis join SA coaches Milo Bradley, Craig Mousley, Todd Langman, Daniel Buberis and Rohan Fisher in Melbourne. Joel Kerley with the completion of the 14s Nationals heads back to Adelaide.
By the end of Monday we will be at the halfway mark of the a Showdown and it is not even close to slowing down here with the AO Women’s Wildcard playoff beginning on Tuesday and the Main Draw of the 12s and 16s still to begin
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