TOM HAYES
TENNIS
TRARALGON INTERNATIONAL By TOM HAYES TRARALGON’S Junior International tournament is well under way, as hundreds of tennis hopefuls have flocked to the country town. The action began on Wednesday, January 11, when the qualifiers for the main draw started as early as 10am. Within the qualifiers were three locals; Traralgon’s Sam McGregor and Eliza Dunbar, and Sale’s Jessica Board. As the temperature continued to rise, when play started the wind momentarily shielded everyone from the heat. McGregor was faced with a tall order, drawn against second seed Argentinian, Segundo Gioty Zapico. He battled hard with the Argentine, but continued to be outdone by his opponent, losing the first set 6-3. The second set was over before it started, as Zapico didn’t allow McGregor to claim a single game to complete the straight sets victory and progress to the second qualifying round. With that, one less local remained, but next on the courts was Sale’s Board, who faced 16th seed, fellow-Australian Jelena Cvijanovic. She too, was outdone in straight sets, as Cvijanovic won 6-2, 6-2, leaving Dunbar as the only local remaining. Just after midday as the sun continued to glare onto the tennis juniors and everyone in attendance, Dunbar was warming up for her qualifier against 15th seed Japanese international Kanna Soeda. Dunbar started in exceptional form, taking an early lead in the first set, before exploding, taking out the first set 6-1. The second set was much more troubling, as Soeda worked herself into the match, making life hard for Dunbar. With the second set going all the way, Dunbar was ever-so close to progressing to the second round of qualifying. She eventually got the better of her opponent, closing out the match 6-1, 7-6, advancing herself to the next round where she’d face Italian fifth seed Anna Paradisi. The following day (Thursday, January 12), Dunbar set out on a mission to claim her main draw entry. It would be another tall order, considering she would have to take the court against the fifth-seeded player. Dunbar and Paradisi shared the first show court, yet despite her efforts, Dunbar was eventually eliminated in straight sets; 6-3, 6-3, painstakingly close to the main draw. On Friday, January 14, the main draw got under way, and despite the locals being knocked out of the singles, plenty of Aussies remained in action. It was fireworks from the beginning, when number one seed, Japan’s Sara Saito was knocked out in the first round in straight sets to Turkey’s Melisa Ercan, Aussie Rhea Makesar was also knocked out; 6-2, 6-1, in the first round by Paradisi – who eliminated Dunbar in the qualifiers. A number of other Aussie girls were eliminated in the first round; Anja Nayar, Zara Larke, Yilin Yan and Roisin Gilheany, while Gabrielle Villegas and Gabby Gregg were knocked out by seeded players in the opening round. Aussies progressing to the second round in straight sets were Lily Fairclough, 16th seed Emerson Jones and Alana Subasic, while Lily Tayor survived three sets with third seed Slovakian, Nikola Daubnerova, to make her way to the second round. As for the boys, six Aussies were knocked out in the first round; Alexander Despoja, Marcus Schoeman, Jeremy Zhang, Brendan Loh, Zachery Viiala and Hugh Winter. Meanwhile, Pavle Marinkov progressed to the second round with ease, as his opponent, Michal Krajci of Slovakia, retired at the end of the first set. Three other Aussie boys booked second round games, all in three sets; Thomas Gadecki, 11th seed Hayden Jones and Charlie Camus. The weekend provided us with the second and third rounds of the Traralgon International singles tournament, and shake-ups were aplenty in the sweltering heat. Ercan, who defeated number one seed Saito, progressed to the quarter finals after edging Tatum Evans in the second round and Paradisi in the third – in straight sets. Fairclough was outdone in the second round, going down in straight sets to Korea’s Yujin Kim, while Taylor and Subasic were also knocked out, Subasic fell out in straight sets to number two seed, Ella McDonald from Great Britain. The last Aussie girl to remain was 14-year-old Emerson Jones, who progressed to the third round, yet lost to Bulgaria’s Rositsa Dencheva in straight sets. As for the boys, it was a similar story, Gadecki was eliminated by 10th seed Joao Fonseca, after winning the first set, Hayden Jones went down to Kaylan Bigun of the US in three sets, while Camus and Marinkov progressed to the third round. But that was as far as they’d get, Camus lost in straight sets to sixth seed Rei Sakamoto, as did Marinkov to Kyle Kang of the US; Sakamoto and Kang will face off in the quarter finals. The first two seeds of the boys bracket were eliminated in the third round; number one seed Iliyan Radulov lost to China’s Tianhui Zhang, while number two seed Keegan Rice lost to Turkey’s Atakan Karahan. By the time this paper comes out, the final two will be decided in the boys and girls, but as of writing, before print, only eight boys and girls remain respectively. In the girls singles, the highest seeded girl remaining is fifth seed Sayaka Ishii from Japan, one of five seeded girls remaining. While for the boys, the highest seeded player remaining is fifth seed Cooper Williams from the US, one of only two seeded boys remaining, as the potential for an upset winner looms. Meanwhile, in the doubles, a few Aussies are still in with a chance of a title; Fairclough, paired with New Zealand’s Vivian Yang have made it to the quarter finals, while for the boys, Aussie duo Marinkov and Viiala have also made it to the quarters, winning both matches in straight sets, one of with was the elimination of number two seeded Bulgarian pair, Radulov and Adriano Dzhenev. All will be decided in the coming days, in what hopes to be an exciting week of tennis. As the tournament comes to a close tonight (Wednesday, January 18), the Australian Open Junior Championship Qualifying will begin, at the Traralgon Tennis Association courts, so we won’t be short of any tennis action any time soon.
