Melbourne VIC, Australia, 16 November 2013 | Tennis Australia
The ATL Vic Conference went under lights for the first time in 2013 with women’s matches played at the Home of the Frankston Firebirds and men’s matches at the Home of the Dingley Dingoes.
In what will gone down in ATL folklore not only in Victoria but around the country, the home team the Frankston Firebirds true to their name made a “Grand Entry” onto court for the pre match presentations on a Fire Truck with sirens aloud amusing the home crowd Firebirds masses. Yes a firetruck!
The action on court at Frankston was also on fire as the nation’s highest pre- season ranked team the RSY Royals led by Tammi Patterson squared off against 2012 Vic Conference winners the Kooyong Classics bolstered by Wildcard player inclusion of Arina Rodionova.
The Royals flew out of the blocks with a blistering upset win by the highly talented Patterson over Rodionova in the highest standard of matches. The Classics though then stamped their class with powerful wins by Annabelle Andrinopoulos over Sam Harris, Ellen Perez over Azra Hadzick and young maestro Destanee Aiva over Tayla Stenta, to win 5 rubbers to 1 and stamp themselves as the new favourites to win the Vic Conference title and perhaps the country’s best women’s team.
In other women’s matches the Waverley Warriors and MCC Stars registered their first wins over Delahey Reckers and Frankston Firebirds respectively, in close tight battles highlighting the evenness of the Vic women’s competition.
The men’s line up of matches for the Round was intriguing with several big name clubs looking to stake their claims for the Vic Conference title. The MCC Stars made the most significant statement of the round in comprehensively defeating Dingley Dingoes 5 rubbers to 1. The Stars star studded line up of Sean Berman and Dayne Kelly enabled them to tactically have the luxury of playing former Davis Cup player Peter Luczak at number 3. The Dingoes “Mr Reliable” James Lemke opened the night up with a rubber win for the Dingoes over Berman, but from there it was all one way traffic with the Stars claiming a 5 to 1 rubber victory, with Luczak’s experience and class shining through with emphatic rubber wins.
In other matches the Kooyong Classics flexed their muscles with the major inclusion of former New Zealand Davis Cup player Rubin Statham with a 6 rubbers to 0 victory over the RSY Royals and Tennis World Taipans registered their first win of the competition over the Waverley Warriors thanks to strong performances from Luke Saville and veteran tennis icon Richard Fromberg.
The Vic Conference action is set to go into overdrive with Round 3 on Sunday 17th November. The men’s will venture to the Home of the Waverley Warriors at Doveton Tennis Club with matches commencing at 12:00pm and the women’s journey back to metro Melbourne at the Home of the MCC Stars with matches commencing at 2:00pm.
