Rising stars Maddison Inglis and Jack Lyttle showed the future of WA tennis is in good hands on Monday as they claimed the respective singles titles at the 2015 Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Easter Open. The mixed doubles partners had the honour of their names being added to the Janniel Harris and Darren Patten Cups along with collecting the $1200 winner’s cheque. Inglis came into the event firm favourite and stormed through the draw without dropping a set. At 17 years of age Inglis is one of the brightest prospects the state has seen, currently ranked 21 in Australia and 784th in the WTA women’s rankings. The flat hitting right hander who trains at the State Tennis Centre swept aside seventh seed Megan Kauffman 6-1 6-1 in the quarter finals before surviving a second set challenge from fourth seed Sheridan Currie to record a 6-4 6-4 semi-final victory. Her opponent in the final, Teiwa Casey, was full of confidence heading into the event having won the last two Easter titles but looked shaky in the early rounds, edging out sixth seed Jess Chaine 6-3 7-5 before fighting back from a break down in the final set to sneak past third seed Marisa Gianotti 4-6 6-3 7-5 in a high quality semi-final.
Inglis dominated the final from the start to finish though claiming the title 6-0 6-1 in just under an hour, blasting winners across all parts of the courts. Casey attempted to slow the onslaught down early in the second set but a break for Inglis to go ahead 2-1 was the final straw as Inglis closed out the match with yet another hard hitting winner down the line.
The Men’s draw was the best the tournament had seen in recent history with a number of unranked state league players forced to come through qualifying including local Josh Bowen and past finalist Charles Williams, along with eventual quarter finalists, Darren Slater and Jake Robinson. Defending champion Zach Itzstein, also a Darren Patten Trophy winner in 2011 was awarded a first round bye as top seed but was the first high-profile casualty for 2015 suffering a shock 6-4 6-4 defeat to Robinson. Itzstein was joined by other highly ranked players on the eliminated list as the seventh and eighth seeds also fell at their first attempts. Jack Lyttle, the tournament second seed accounted for Bowen in the second round before surviving a late fightback from fifth seed Mitch Pleydell in the quarter finals, claiming a 6-2 7-6 victory. The right-hander with a talented all court game appeared in trouble during his semi-final with six-time champion Cameron Fenner going behind a service break 4-3. However Fenner’s title hopes were dashed with a back injury in the next game, he continued to lose serve before Lyttle held with ease to take 5-4 lead but it was obvious Fenner couldn’t continue and Lyttle advanced to the decider. His opponent in the final was Geraldton regular, Sam Ashenden, a player who with Williams had collected three doubles titles previously. Ashenden powered past sixth seed James Stuttard in the quarter finals turning the match around to record a 6-7 6-3 6-0 win before taking out unseeded youngster, Ben Webster, the player who stopped the run of Robinson, 6-3 6-1. Ashenden appeared rattled by nerves and his inability to hit winners saw Lyttle take control to take the opening set on the back of a rising number of unforced errors by his opponent 6-2. Lyttle had one hand on the trophy when he went ahead 4-2 before Ashenden produced some brilliant grass-court tennis to break back to the delight of his vocal supporters. However, missed volleys in the following game saw Lyttle convert his sixth break point, before he held his nerve to claim victory in 1 hour 46 minutes.
Celebrating the event’s 80th anniversary the tournament which was named the best in the state for 2013 and a finalist for the same award in 2014 has again attracted a quality field, with over 290 players entered. “We were very happy with the entry list this year, with rising costs of travel we were worried numbers may be down, but they are up on the last two years and we are almost reached our target of 300, finishing with 298 players” added Tournament Director Rick Arthur. Pleydell and Stuttard combined to take the Men’s Doubles 6-4 3-6 10-4 over Tarcoola’s Jarron Kretschmann and Itzstein, while Meg Connell combined with Currie to take the Ladies doubles 6-4 6-3 over Megan Kauffman and Sally Partington. There was some better news for Ashenden in the Mixed Doubles as his net game shone through combining with Gianotti to defeat Lyttle and Inglis in the decider 4-2 0-4 10-1, played using the new Tennis Australia “Fast 4” format.
“We had a quality field this year, which is a great reflection of how good this event is, the fact we have such high numbers and players that come back year after year is proof that we have the right format and are offering what the players want, this list is stronger than almost all Perth based tournaments which is a credit to our club” added Tournament Director, Rick Arthur.
Also adding to the 80th edition of the event was the 30th anniversary of the Maylands Tennis Club making the trip to compete in the tournament. Maylands representative Julie Green paid tribute to the club on the running of the event during her speech. “It has been great to see juniors grow into adults over the years, strangers have become friends and we look forward to seeing our tennis family each year, bring on the 31st”.
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