WA’s Maddison Inglis has returned to professional tennis in emphatic style as she emerged victorious at the first UTR Pro Tennis Series event in Brisbane.
Despite the lack of match play due to the shutdown of the international tennis tours since early March, Inglis competed superbly at Pat Rafter Arena this week.
The 22 year old was impressive right to the end, saving a match point to defeat Lizette Cabrera 6-4 1-6 [11-9] in the final.
“I don’t think it could have got any tighter in the end, but I thought we both played really well at times and there was a bit of a lapse for each of us,” said Inglis, after securing the one hour, 40-minute contest in the match tiebreak.
“But I thought we both played a really good tiebreak, so it was a good way to finish it.”
Inglis’ hard-fought victory over Cabrera followed straight-sets wins over Olivia Tjandramulia and Naiktha Bains in the round-robin stages of the Brisbane event..
While the finals – strict biosecurity at UTR Pro Tennis Series events include an absence of spectators – were a new playing experience for Inglis, she was grateful for the efforts made to ensure the resumption of professional tennis.
“It’s definitely a different feel out there. It’s pretty quiet,” said Inglis. “But no, I mean just to have the chance to go out there and play is really amazing. So I think we’re all really grateful that they are doing these quite extreme measures so that we all can play.”
Inglis explained how the tournaments provided both valuable match play and a sense of purpose amid the uncertainty of the international tours.
“I mean that’s why this UTR is so good because we still kind of don’t really know what we are going to play next. So to have this to train for is really important,” she said.
“It’s definitely nice to be out on the court again. It’s so different to play a match compared to training. It’s really different, so to get those matches is really important.”
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