Bundaberg, Australia, 6 April 2012 | Tennis Australia

Bundaberg’s Festival of Tennis will continue next week with the Queensland Junior Claycourt International, to be held at Drinan Park Tennis Centre from 9-15 April 2012.

The Junior ITF Grade 4 tournament will be held in the city for the first time, attracting some of the best Australian and international junior players. Open to athletes aged 18 and under, the event gives competitors the opportunity to develop their skills and experience competitive match play.

South Australia’s Bradley Mousley (Wynn Vale, SA), who was a quarterfinalist at the event last year, is expected to be the top seed in the boys’ competition. Hot on his heels will be Harry Bourchier (Kingston, Tas) and Jake Delaney (Sydney, NSW), winner and runner-up of this week’s Optus 16s National Claycourt Championships in Ipswich, as well as Robert Allan (Mullaloo, WA) and David Kohan (Bellevue Hill, NSW).

Last year’s Optus 14s Australian Championships winner Marc Polmans (East Brighton, Vic) and 2012 Optus 14s National Grasscourt champion Brian Tran (Greystanes, NSW) are also ones to watch when the main draw gets underway on Tuesday.

Ebony Panoho (Heritage Park, Qld), a finalist in 2011, will be looking to go one better in the girls’ draw. She will be joined by the likes of Andrea Dikosavljevic (Sippy Downs, Qld), Ellen Perez (Shellharbour, NSW), Sara Tomic (Southport, Qld), Brigitte Beck (Point Cook, Vic) and Astra Sharma (Perth, WA).

Isabelle Wallace (East Bentleigh, Vic), 2012 Optus 16s National Claycourt girls’ champion, is also expected to play.

Kennosuke Nouchi of Japan, New Zealanders Nicholas Brown, Danielle Feneridis and Louise Oxnevad, Rheeya Doshi from Singapore and Nicolas Nietosvaara from Finland are just some of the international players travelling to Bundaberg to compete.

Tournament Director David Hearne said it was a great opportunity the tournament was being played out in Bundaberg for the first time.

“Bundaberg is a wonderful city and we’ve seen through the success of the Pro Tour event here last week and over the years that the local community can get behind our up-and-coming tennis players and give them the support they need,” said Hearne.

“The tennis club here has been fantastic in preparing the courts and it will really give the players another opportunity to compete on clay and improve on their competitive skills.”

The Queensland Junior Claycourt International is part of the Junior ITF circuit and Optus Junior Tour which provides a clear competitive pathway for aspiring tennis players. Players who compete earn Junior ITF World Ranking points and those points earned by Australians are converted and calculated to generate their Australian Ranking.