Simon Haslam
The finals of the Mullumbimby Tennis Club championships were held in glorious weather last weekend.
The men’s finals revealed the strength of the top players with club coach, president and now club champion Steve Gort defeating up-and-coming Australian junior Louis Clark, who is currently ranked 15th in under 16s in Australia and 191st in open men’s.
Fifteen-year-old Clark, who is coached by Gort, left the match to travel to the Beenleigh 2015 Open where again it was ‘close but no cigar’ as he lost the doubles final with partner Will Maher.
In a hard-fought men’s doubles in Mullumbimby, Steve Gort and another of his pupils Ben Peterson defeated David Alfaro and Teva Liebo in a tie-break in the third set decider.
Winner of the women’s open singles was Kirsty Paron who defeated Diana Rowe in a very exciting three-set match (6-1, 1-6, 6-4). The women’s open doubles will be played next Monday night.
There were a lot of juniors competing this year, a good sign for the future of the club. Club secretary/treasurer Jeanie Runciman said it was great to see the juniors competing on Sunday with the adults, and it was a credit to the effort that coach Steve Gort was putting in to coaching all the up-and-coming kids to see such enthusiasm in the younger ranks.
Open Boys singles: Amadeus O’Connor d. Hugh Campbell.
Open Boys doubles: Amadeus O’Connor and Jatrel Cole d. Hugh Campbell and Louka McAllister. U/15 Boys singles: Lucca Dealmeida d. Seamus Weir, U/11 Boys singles: Jatrel Cole d. Ariel Haslam.
Open Girls singles: Alexandra Dean d. Isabelle VanderHetch.
Open Girls doubles: Alexandra Dean and Isabelle VanderHetch d. Phoebe Thomas and Eloise Bambach.
Other results: Men’s B singles: Diamantis Hamalis d. David Shaw.
Men’s B doubles: Nick Fernley and David Shaw d. Andrew Derbyshire and Diamantis Hamalis.
