Melbourne VIC, Australia, 11 November 2013 | Tennis Australia

The first round of the Asia-Pacific Tennis League (ATL) Vic Conference was played yesterday at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club with some surprising results.

In a day that saw players including Peter Luczak, Tammi Patterson, Luke Saville, James Lemke and Zoe Hives take part, there was some superior tennis action taking place on court.

In a strongly fought out contest in the women’s draw, RSY Royals’ Tammi Patterson was too strong for Zoe Hives (MCC Stars) winning 4-2 3-4 4-3 in a third set tie break.

The men’s draw was full of tough matches none more so than the match played between Daniel Guccione of the Tennis World Taipans and Anthony Zafiris from the Dingley Dingoes. After a tight first set won by Zafiris, 4-3, it came down to a point that would be Set/Match Point for Zafiris or Set Point for Guccione. Serving for the match Zafiris sent down a blistering serve that was deemed too close to call. The match supervisor was called onto court and after much deliberating it was deemed the serve was in, an ace to Zafiris and the match. Excited to have the win Zafiris also felt for his opponent Guccione “That’s the beauty of ATL, it can go either way in one shot.”

James Lemke capped off a brilliant start for the Dingoes delivering the first rubber win, victorious over former Australian Open Junior Champion, Luke Saville (Tennis World Taipans).

The next round of ATL will be played at Dingley Tennis Club for the Men’s draw and Frankston Tennis Club for the Womens draw. Both fixtures start at 7:00pm on Friday 15 November 2013.

Final Rubber scores:

MEN:

Kooyong Classics 5 rubbers defeated Waverley Warriors 1 rubber

Dingley Dingoes 5 rubbers defeated Waverley Warriors 1 rubber

MCC Stars 5 rubbers defeated RSY Royals 1 rubber

WOMEN:

Kooyong Classics 5 rubbers defeated Waverley Warriors 1 rubber

Delahey Reckers 4 rubbers defeated Frankston Firebirds 2 rubbers

RSY Royals 5 rubbers defeated MCC Stars 1 rubber.