The recent 12s and 14s Nationals held in Sydney has proved to be a successful event for some of the South Australia’s most promising young tennis players. The event attracts Australia’s best young talent with South Australian players achieving strong results in both the singles and doubles events.
South Australians Jeanette Lin and Petra Hule were the number 3 seeds in the Girls 14s Doubles with the team pairing to make the final of the event before losing to New South Wales pairing Monique Belovukovic and Violet Apisah 2-6 6-3 10-8. Unseeded South Australian Selina Turulja and her partner from Victoria Gabrielle Ruffels also achieved great success by surprising the draw and making the semi-finals before losing to Lin and Hule.
The 12s Boys singles saw South Australian Sean Van Rensburg go into the event as the number 2 seed and achieve a strong result by making the Quarter Finals before losing to Queenslander Dane Sweeney 6-4 6-4. Van Rensburg then partnered Sweeney in the doubles event as the number 1 seeds and went on to win the title defeating Campbell Salmon and Tristan Schoolkate 6-3 6-1 in the final.
The 12s Girls singles saw strong performances from a number of South Australians with Amber Marshall leading the way with a run to the Semi-Finals before narrowly losing to Queenslander Olivia Gadecki 7-6(5) 2-6 7-5. Marshall’s strong performance was closely followed by Tayla Whitehouse and Isabella Ryles who won their way out of the round robin groups into the Quarter Finals. Ryles continued the South Australian success by partnering with Patricia Apisah from New South Wales to win the doubles title over Queensland’s Olivia Gadecki and Megan Smith 5-7 6-1 10-6. Marshall teamed with South Australian Madison Bishop to also achieve a strong result in the doubles draw with the number 2 seeds making the semi-finals before losing to Ryles and Apisah.
State Development Coach Joel Kerley said ‘the strong showing from South Australian players at the Spring Nationals is a result of the hard work all athletes have put in over the winter months. The athletes will return to training shortly with a focus on preparing for another strong showing at the December Showdown in Melbourne later in the year.’
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