14 July 2014 | Tennis Tasmania

Congratulations to Catherine Krueger from Taroona for claiming the 16/u girls singles title at the prestigious Rod Laver Queensland Junior Championships.

The victory capped a stellar few weeks in the Sunshine State for Krueger, who also reached the final four at the Rod Laver lead in Queensland Championships. Krueger, who is Tasmania’s top ranked female at 68 in the nation, gained momentum as each match passed which was highlighted by her straight sets dispatch of third seeded Brooke Milner in the semi finals. Awaiting Krueger in the highly anticipated final was Gabriella Mclaughlin who defeated Krueger a week earlier in the lead in tournament. During an entertaining first set it seemed lightning was going to strike twice with Mclaughlin claiming the set with the title in reach. That was as close as she got as Krueger held her nerve to claim the next two sets and in so the Platinum title. National coach of Tasmania Simon Youl was in attendance throughout quoting “This win is great for Catherine. Her serve has been on fire these past two weeks which will put her in great stead as she prepares for the ITF Junior championships in Queensland. Her mental toughness in the final was outstanding after falling behind an early set.”

With the win Krueger is set to improve her ranking towards top 50 in Australia which will be a career high for the recently turned sixteen year old. Krueger is currently still in Queensland competing in the Queensland Junior Winter International, featuring some of the best eighteen year old players across the world.

Also featuring predominately in these two major interstate tournaments was Elaine Fader, Jessica Fowler, Daniel Groom and Sanyukta Singh. Fader and Fowler, both apart of the Hobart Tennis Academy tour claimed an impressive doubles title at the lead in Gold championships, not dropping a set through four doubles contests. Singh produced some breathtaking tennis, upsetting sixth seeded Kyra Yap in the first round before falling agonisingly short in her quarter final encounter whilst Groom made the semi-finals of the lead in championships, dropping a marathon three set tussle, before claiming the consolation title in the Rod Laver Platinum Championships.

Overall it was a great few weeks away capped off by the outstanding performance of Catherine Krueger. All players gained invaluable experience and took it right up to the best players in Australia.