Brisbane, Queensland, 15 July 2013 | Tennis Australia

The future stars of world tennis were out in force at the weekend for the finals of the Queensland Junior Winter International at Shaw Park Tennis Centre in Brisbane.

After a rain-soaked week of competition Yuya Ito (JPN) and Stephanie Yamada (NSW) took out the boys’ and girls’ singles titles respectively, in the first of two consecutive ITF Junior events to be held in Queensland this month.

No. 4 seed Ito defeated local hope Daniel Nolan (Vic) 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-3 in a hard-fought boys’ singles final after a blistering run at Shaw Park.

The 16-year-old blasted his way through the field to book his place in the final, not dropping a set en route to the decider. The rising tennis star claimed the scalp of top seed Mitchell Pritchard (NSW) 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals before facing up to No. 2 seed Nolan in the final.

In the girls’ singles draw Stephanie Yamada walked away with the title after opponent Andjela Djokovic (Qld) was forced to withdraw from the match.

In a successful week for the 16-year-old, Yamada also took home the girls’ doubles crown with partner Ayano Sonoda (JPN).  The No. 4 seeds fought out a nail-biting decider against second seeds Anja Dokic (WA) and Katerina Valos (Vic), eventually scoring a 3-6, 7-6(2), 13-11 victory.

In the boys’ doubles No. 6 seeds Max Purcell (NSW) and Scott Gordon Webster (WA) defeated eighth seeds Mitchell Robins (Qld) and Brian Tran (NSW) 6-2, 6-2.

The action now moves to Kawana Tennis Club in Buddina for the second Queensland Junior Winter International event.

Ito and Yamada will line up in pursuit of back-to-back titles in the Sunshine State but will have to overcome title contenders including Pritchard and Nolan in the boys’ draw and Lizette Cabrera (Qld) in the girls’ draw to walk away with consecutive tournament wins.

Play gets underway at Kawana Tennis Club tomorrow.