15 September 2024 | Tennis West

West Australian Talia Gibson has won her maiden Perth title overcoming fellow West Aussie Maddison Inglis in a tense three set match. 

After successfully making two finals last year and falling short, Gibson came from a set down to win against an in-form Maddison Inglis in front of a healthy crowd at the State Tennis Centre.

Gibson was challenged early in the week by Alexandra Bozovic, coming from a set down to win in three sets, but found her form winning her quarter-final and semi-final in straight sets while Inglis went through the tournament without dropping a set.

The first set of the final was a see-sawing affair which went on for over an hour with both players breaking serve on two occasions each. Both went point for point until Inglis found the advantage to take the first set 7-6 in the tie-break.

Gibson responded well in the second set breaking the serve of Inglis four times and winning 67% of points from first serves.

The third set proved a close one with the scores tied at three games all, with momentum swinging both ways, however Gibson found her best form and asserted back momentum, winning the last three games and winning the match in two hours and 46 minutes.

After making the final twice last year in the Perth International, Gibson was happy to get the win this time round and was grateful to play a tournament here at home.

“It was a really tough match out there today and is always a tough battle playing Maddy,” said Gibson.

“Sticking to my game and playing aggressively worked for me, obviously it was tough out here with the wind today, but I really tried to stick to my strengths, and it came off well.”

The pair yesterday teamed up in the doubles final and came out as victors, defeating Japanese pair Erina Hayashi and Saki Imamura 6-2 6-4.

It was always going to happen playing singles against Maddy, she’s a great friend and we had a lot of fun in the doubles. I was really happy for her to be making the finals of the singles and playing some great tennis,” said Gibson.

The pair will now enjoy a couple of days off before turning their attention to the Perth International ITF W75 #2 where the main draw will start this Tuesday.