Ipswich, Australia, 16 April 2012 | Tennis Australia

Benard Nkomba (Yagoona, NSW) and Aleksa Cveticanin (Wishart, Qld) have been crowned the 2012 Optus 12s National Claycourt singles champions after winning their respective finals at the George Alder Tennis Centre in Ipswich.

No.1 seed Nkomba defeated fellow New South Welshman, Kody Pearson (Panania, NSW) in straight sets 6-2 6-3, to take his second 12/u national championships title.

Pearson was runner-up for a second time in a row this year having fallen short to Matthew Romios (Pascoe Vale South, Vic) at the Optus National Grasscourt championships in Mildura during February.

Third seed, Cveticanin won her first national title after she posted a victory over current national grasscourt champion Jaimee Fourlis (Preston, Vic) 6-3 5-7 7-5, in a match that lasted two-and-a-half hours.

The Queenslander said she simply went for her shots and stayed true to her game to eventually take the match.

“I had two match points at 5-4, and I ended up losing those two, so I was just like, ‘OK, I’m gonna win this’.”

“I’ve never played her (Fourlis) before but she was staying with me during this tournament so that was especially hard, so she’s really upset, but it was a really good match.

“I was a bit shaky after the match but now it’s really sunk in I’m really happy.”

Cveticanin then lead Fourlis to victory in a convincing display in the girls’ doubles final defeating [7] Renee McBryde (Fairy Meadow, NSW) and Brooke Winley (Dapto, NSW), 6-1 6-0.

In the rain-delayed boys doubles event, second seeds Kody Pearson and Moerani Bouzige eventually defeated the 7th seeds Harrison Brown and Thomas Giles, 6-2 4-6 10-3.

Click here to check out our photo gallery honouring all of the winners and finalists from the Optus 12s National Claycourt Championships.

Ipswich’s Festival of Tennis at the George Alder Tennis Centre continues for one more week with the main draw of the Gallipoli Youth Cup scheduled to begin tomorrow.