30 November 2012 | Tennis Victoria

After five thrilling rounds, the Asia-Pacific Tennis League–Victorian Conference (ATL) winners will be decided tonight at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.

On the men’s side, the undefeated Liston Seagulls will take on their arch-rivals Kooyong Classics, whose only defeat came against Liston.

Seagull’s No.1 Sam Groth said his team are full of confidence heading into the final.

“The strength of our team is that any player can play in the No.1 position,” said Groth.

“We’re so strong across all our four players.”

But Groth also added they wouldn’t be underestimating the Kooyong team.

“Behind us, they’ve been the best team all conference.”

The Seagulls and the Classics faced off in Round 2 of the ATL, where the match went down to the wire. The two teams were locked at two rubbers all after the singles, but the Groth-lead Seagulls cruised through the two doubles rubbers, only dropping four games and claiming victory.

The Seagulls will be favourites heading into the match, after bolstering their line up last week with world No.274 Matt Reid. Reid teamed up with the owner of the world’s fastest serve, Groth, to shape a formidable partnership and send a timely warning to the rest of the competition with strong performances against Waverley Warriors and Dingley Dingoes.

The Classics, however, will head into the final on the back of two successive six rubbers to love victories and will be brimming with confidence.  With a squad featuring young gun and world No.767 Andrew Whittington, the undefeated Andrew Coelho and former world No.24 Richard Fromberg, they will definitely push the Seagulls all the way in what promises to be an enthralling final.

On the women’s side, the undefeated Kooyong Classics will take on the surprise packets of the competition, the Frankston Firebirds.

Firebirds No.2 Nives Baric said she believed her team “have it in the bag tonight”.

“The red firebirds are going to come out firing, we have a really good team and I think it’s going to be a good night,” said Baric.

Baric also said she was expecting a big crowd at Kooyong for the culmination of the ATL.

“I’ve already spoken to quite a few people who are planning on coming and I think either way, it’s going to be awesome tennis.”

The Classics have only dropped five rubbers all conference and will be hot favourites to take out the final. With a squad that features current world No.315 Sally Peers and rising star Belinda Woolcock, the Classics will be looking to use their home court advantage to win the final.

Further information can be found on our website.

The Firebirds shouldn’t be counted out just yet; they recruited current world No.607 and another young gun Storm Sanders as a wildcard last week, helping the team secure a tense win in the final round of the regular season.

The winner of the ATL – Vic Conference Final will progress to the Asia-Pacific Tennis League Playoffs to be held at Melbourne Park during the second week of Australian Open 2013.

Play starts at 7pm at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Spectators are encouraged to come along and catch some of the best tennis players in Australia fighting it out for the ATL title.