26 November 2014 | Tennis Queensland

Kicking off their season at home, the Shaw Park Sharks began their bid for a hat trick of Asia-Pacific Tennis League (ATL) – Queensland Conference titles with a strong 5-1 defeat of the Beenleigh Blaze in the women’s draw.  Their male counterparts, who finished last Conference in second place responded with an equally impressive 5-1 win against the Blaze men, giving the home crowd many reasons to celebrate over the course of the night.

The match to watch for spectators came about when Ashling Sumner took on recent Wendy Turnbull Medalist for Queensland Junior Player of the Year, Kim Birrell in a 3-set thriller. With the local support on her side, Sumner came up with the win, setting up the team for their powerful night on-court.

In other ties, the Sunshine Coast Breakers and Tennis Brisbane Chargers were one-a-piece after Friday night’s action. The men’s 2013 champions, the Chargers, ended the night 4-2 whilst the Breakers women evened the score winning on a count-back of 8-7 sets after the rubbers were split 3-3.

The final match-up of the night saw Tennyson Volt take on the Toowoomba Tigers. With a stellar line up that included Ben Mitchell, Kaden Hensel, Isabella Holland and Emma Hayman, the Volt proved too strong in both draws and now sit comfortably as a team to watch leading into the next round.

Round two was played out on Sunday afternoon at the Kawana Tennis Club, where the Sunshine Coast Breakers delighted local fans by cruising through to a 6-0 defeat of the Toowoomba Tigers in both the men’s and women’s draw.

The match-up between Tennyson Volt and Beenleigh Blaze was significantly tighter. The scores were level after the women’s singles rubbers, but the Volt team again made headway on their road to the title getting up 4-2 with in-form doubles pairings. The Blaze men leveled the scores however in a nail-biting finale that resulted in a count-back of total games (42-41) after results of all rubbers and sets came out even.

The 2013 Queensland Conference champions lived up to expectations again in the second round when the Shaw Park Sharks came head to head with the Tennis Brisbane Chargers. Both the Sharks women and Chargers men are undefeated after two rounds of competition with each winning their round two ties 4-2.

The ATL Queensland Conference continues next weekend with round three kicking off at 6pm on Friday night at Griffith University Tennis Centre, Mt Gravatt. The conference then travels to Toowoomba Regional Tennis Centre – USQ where the action continues from 1pm on Sunday.

Each round of competition will feature entertainment for the whole family including team mascots, live music and food stalls available across the competition rounds. Prizes and giveaways will also be available at each round, including Hit the Target, a national competition giving you the chance to play with the Grand Slam stars on Rod Laver Arena at the 2015 Australian Open.

For full results, ladders and information on each ATL Queensland Conference round, please visit atl.tennis.com.au.