Local stars Aaron Tran (above), from Endeavour Hills, and Sam Dowler, from Hallam, fought out an engrossing round-one battle at the annual Waverley Tennis Queen’s Birthday tournament at Doveton last Friday. Dowler eventually won the match in three sets. 31784 Picture: Stewart ChambersBy Marc McGowan
RAIN interruptions and a power blackout threatened to ruin this year’s Waverley Tennis Queen’s Birthday tournament at Doveton, but it still proved a raging success.
There were 497 entries – exactly 100 more than 2008 – in the annual Level Five event and the draws were strong again.
Second-seeded Paul Arber defeated number-one seed Aaron Leeder-Chard 7-5 6-1 to win the men’s open singles’ crown.
But there was a massive boilover in the women’s open singles, with number-one and two seeds, Viktorija Rajicic and Molly Polak, both Australian junior representatives, failing to reach the final.
Fourth seed Genevieve Lorbergs ultimately brushed aside Narre Warren North teenager and 12th seed Bryanna Fisers 6-4 6-1 in the decider.
Fisers made a giant-killing run through the draw, beating third seed Sandy Vo and seventh seed Stephanie Nguyen en route to the final.
The men’s and women’s doubles finalists agreed to share the title – and the prize-money – due to the rain delays causing scheduling problems.
Lorbergs and Ashlea Andrews were due to meet Polak and Vo in the women’s final, while Leeder-Chard and Evan Warring were set to clash with Narre Warren South’s Ben Goltz and Robert Trower.
Goltz also made a surprise run to the semi-finals in the men’s open singles before falling in a thrilling three-setter to Leeder-Chard.
Other locals to impress were Endeavour Hills pair Michael Turlejski and Dejan Erakovic, the 11th and 16th seeds respectively, who both made the fourth round of the men’s open singles.
Turlejski made the men’s open singles final last year.
There are still seven finals to be played in the graded events, with five of them being played at Doveton from 9am on Sunday.
Tournament manager Lyn Gillen was pleased with the weekend despite the dramas.
She is now looking forward to running the inaugural Waverley Tennis Australian Money Tournament over the Melbourne Cup weekend from Friday, 30 October to Tuesday, 3 November.
There is a $10,000 prize pool for competitors and Doveton will also host its annual Junior Development Series competition at the same time.
The junior event begins on the Saturday.
Keep an eye on the Waverley Tennis website at www.waverley tennis.asn.au for further details.
