Ballarat's Vincent Stouff won the men's singles final at the Goulburn Valley Open.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Extreme temperatures and fierce competition defined the four days of the Goulburn Valley Open and Junior Championship held at Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club.
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Temperatures soared into the mid-40s on the final two days of play, and more than 240 competitors brought the heat on the court in their mission to clinch some new year silverware.
In Thursday’s tournament finales, play commenced at 7.30am due to the heat, kicking off with the men's and women’s singles finals.
Vincent Stouff was dominant on his way to the men’s final against the UK’s Felix Mischker, who put up a good fight against the in-form coach from Ballarat.
Nonetheless, Stouff’s purple patch carried him to the men’s title, prevailing 6-4, 6-3.
Mischker’s path to the final saw him do battle with SLTC gun Thomas Ranson in the quarter-final, with the home-town ace pushing the eventual runner-up in a 4-6, 6-7 defeat.
While Ranson didn’t get the chocolates in the singles draw, his fortunes in the doubles format continued, after claiming the under-18 Australian Championships doubles gong in December.
Ranson teamed up with Numurkah’s inter-regional singles champion Jack Bassett this time, defeating Ryan and Marcus Nield in the final at Shepparton 7-6, 6-4.
Meanwhile, rising Bendigo region star Willow Kelly took out the women’s singles title, needing a tie break to overcome a fast-starting Breanna Cerasa.
Cerasa caught Kelly on the hop with a 6-4 win in the first set, but Kelly clinched the second 6-1 to force the tie break.
A back-and-forth third stanza went the way of Kelly 10-8, also going on to a runner-up placing in the women’s doubles with Cleo Stuart.
Jasmine Mathew and Danniella Yu took out the honours, winning tie breaks in the semi-final and the final to lift the doubles championship.
27°C