The annual November Masters ITF Tournament was played over the weekend. This event brings the best of the best players from throughout Australia and there were many international players in attendance.
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To qualify to play Masters, players have to be over the age of 30. With age groups moving up in increments of 5, there were plenty of opportunities to have a hit.
Promoting tennis as a sport for life there were competitors in the 85-90 age bracket.
The standard of the players was incredible. This was highlighted by Brendon Moore who is the current number 1 in the World for the 35-40 age group. Brendon has been a regular player at Yarrawonga and leaves everyone in awe at his skill level.
Local stars John Brunner and Ellen Bruce competed in the event. Both had fantastic tournaments and played off in the finals.
Tuesday mens
With the Bureau of Meteorology’s radar experiencing technical difficulties, competition organiser Ash Wheaton was forced to look towards the heavens on Tuesday afternoon.
Making the decision to cancel the night was vindicated as the rain started right on queue at 6pm. The season will recommence with round 3 this Tuesday.
Thursday ladies
On a beautiful night for tennis, the ladies had a great hit. With a few events on there were a larger than normal number of fill ins. Competition organiser, Narelle Bassett did a great job to find ladies to have a hit and a number of juniors filled voids which was appreciated.
Kennedy and Carpenter had a great battle with Kennedy winning the first 2 sets, Carpenter the next 2 and Kennedy the last 2. This meant Kennedy won 4 sets to 2 and none of the players were able to secure 3 wins.
Arnold turned up ready to play in a dominant display against Raso. Tess Bassett, Chris Hawkins, Bev Munro and youngster Kendall Connell all won to take the night 6 sets to 0.
Not to be out done, Kerr also were absolutely clinical to win 6 set to 0 against Vine. Ellen Bruce, Narelle Bassett, Joanne Taylor and Vicky Horton all in terrific form to be undefeated.
In the final rubber of the evening there were many tight sets and Catley and Foord finished in near darkness with Catley winning 4 sets to 2. Olivia Lewis was best on court winning all of her matches.
The ladder after round 3 is Kerr 19, Arnold 19, Carpenter 18, Foord 16, Kennedy 13, Catley 10, Raso 6, Fowler 5, Vine 2.
Wilby Tennis gather round
Round 7 of Wilby Tennis was a washout with the rain on Friday night spoiling what promised to be a great round.
This week is the Gather Round. On Friday night all matches will be played at Yarrawonga.
This will create a great spectacle and emphasise the social side of the competition. With so many matches to be played and daylight at a premium, it will be essential that all matches start right on 6pm.
After round 7 the ladder is Telford 40, Tungamah Gold 34, Savernake 33, Wilby 33, Burramine 31, Tungamah Green 24, Mulwala Maroon 17, Mulwala Gold 12.
Saturday morning tennis
With a dire forecast of overnight rain, all players and parents were left in shock to be greeted with dry courts and conditions perfect for tennis.
On Saturday Premier League continued for 48 of the strongest players. There are four teams 6 boys and 6 girls in each team.
Over the three-week period, each team will play each other. The winner of each rubber will be determined by the team that wins the most sets.
On the weekend each player completed a doubles, a mixed and a singles set. There were a substantial number of fill ins this week and these players are to be congratulated on the way they played.
In the first rubber there were some very close sets with many lasting a very long time. At the end it was great to see the mighty Blues knock of the Pies winning 13 sets to 11.
Three sets winners for the Blues were Milla Cox and Billie Buerckner whilst for the Pies Noah Cox was undefeated.
The second match was equally as tight with the Bombers defeating the Tigers with the same scoreline 13 to 11. Again the tennis was great to watch and the spectators were treated to long rallies.
For the Bombers Ed Withers, Tague Saunders and Kendall Connell won all of their sets and for the Tigers Kiera Buerckner won all of her matches.
This meant at the conclusion of the competition the ladder is Pies 49, Blues 47, Bombers 37 and Tiger 35.
Six points were awarded for the overall win and a point per set won. Congratulations to Elli Buerckner, Ella Lewis, Lucy Judd, Ava Cox, Georgie Smith, Maddison Gove, Wil Anderson, Noah Cox, Jackson Prosser, Finn Angwin, Theo Vodusek and Jack Carmichael on being part of the Pies team.
This week before the matches commence presentations will be made to both the Pies and Blues teams.
The younger players who played matches also had some magnificent matches with many very close results. Every single court was being used which creates a great atmosphere. This meant 70 kids played matches which is awesome.
Players were given the option of playing 3 doubles or 2 doubles and a singles. Court winners were Braden Coates, Riley Wallace, Tristan Meredith and Oscar Leary.
The Hot Shots and coaching groups continue to develop under the guidance of club coach Greg Duns and his coaching team. It is great to see the enthusiastic approach every week by every single player. The skill development is rapid, and they really enjoy parental involvement. It was noted that a record number of icy poles were handed out during the morning.
Goulburn Murray tennis
Numurkah’s Division 1 team visited Shepparton on Saturday. Making his Division 1 debut was Yarrawonga’s Fraser Bennett.
Fraser enjoyed the challenge and was clearly not out of his place as he won all 3 of his matches in comprehensive form.
Siblings Jack Bassett and Lucy Bassett both playing a number 1 players had strong performances. Lucy winning her singles and Jack his singles and doubles before taking the chocolates with Lucy in the mixed.
Numurkah far too good on the day winning 10 sets to 2 and cementing their position in second place on the ladder.
In Division 2 Numurkah made the long trek to Kyabram. Switching allegiances for the weekend, Hayley Bennett won her doubles and had narrow losses in singles and mixed.
Tess Bassett continued her strong recent form to win her singles, doubles and had a narrow loss in the mixed. Numurkah going down 4 sets to 7.
Rock up and play sessions
The YLTC holds social aggregate style tennis at four different times during the week. Each of these events provide the opportunity for new players to come and trial tennis prior to committing to becoming a member.
The main aggregate night is Friday night starting at 6pm. The other times where anyone can simply sign-in on the day are Saturday at 1pm for all players, Tuesday morning commencing at 9.30am for ladies and Wednesday at 1pm for the men’s social hit.
There is no compulsion to attend each of these on a weekly basis although once you have tried it once it will be hard to not keep going back.
Yarrawonga Chronicle