11 May 2016 | Todd Larkham

April saw a return of the 12/u and 14/u National Grasscourt Championships. Previously held in Mildura for many years, they have now been moved to the Memorial Drive Tennis Club in Adelaide. ACT had 5 players in action, with the best result coming from Annerly Poulos who was runner-up in the 14/u girls singles. This is Annerly’s 2nd final of a 14/u Nationals, after she also made the final of the 14/u Nationals in December. Annerly had no time to rest after returning from the Adelaide, as she hopped on a plane to represent Australia in the 14/u World Junior Teams event held in Bangkok. Competing with 16 other nations from Australasia, the team of Olivia Gadecki (Qld), Natasha Russell (SA) and Annerly finished 6th out of 16 countries. After winning their pool, they came up against eventual winners Hong Kong in the quarter-finals and were very close to victory before going down in the deciding doubles rubber to lose the tie 2-1.

The other outstanding results from the National Grasscourt Championships came in doubles, with Jack Lyons reaching the semi-finals of the 14/u boys doubles and the ACT pair of Ashleigh Simes and Annerly Poulos also reaching the semi-finals, defeating the No.1 seeds along the way.

Also representing Australia in April was ACT Academy scholarship holder Kaitlin Staines, who is from Wagga but attends school and trains in Canberra. Kaitlin was one of 3 players selected for the Australian Junior Fed Cup team to travel to India.  The team of Jeanette Lin (VIC), Jessica Zaviacic (NSW) and Kaitlin performed well, finishing in 5th place out of 16 teams in the Australasia region.

Whilst Annerly was in Bangkok and Kaitlin in India, most other ACT junior players were competing in the ACT Challenge which consisted of a White AMT and a Bronze Junior event. The best singles results came from Lejla Hajdar (winner 12/u girls singles), Matina Ujdur (winner 16/u girls singles), Chloe Koundouris (runner-up 12/u girls singles) Charlie Camus (runner-up 12/u boys singles) and Ash Simes (runner-up 14/u girls singles). There were also several good doubles results which are listed below.

A few days ago the Australian rankings were released for the month of May. Below are those aged between their 10th  and 16th birth years who have improved their ranking to be now ranked inside the top 20 in Australia in their birth year, an outstanding achievement.

Other notable results from the ACT Challenge:

AMT Womens doubles  runners-up – Ros Balodis and Leanne Swaysland

AMT Mens doubles winners – Andrew Zedde and Todd Volmari

AMT Mens doubles runners up – Daniel Green and Tristan Adrian

Ellie Koundouris – winner 12/u girls doubles

Ash Simes – winner 14/u girls doubles

Alyssa Simoncini and Camila Felix-Vonarx – runners–up 14/u girls doubles

Sophie McDonald – runner-up 12/u girls doubles

Charlie Camus and Dominic Ferraris – runners–up 12/u boys doubles