Melbourne VIC, Australia, 20 January 2014 | Tennis Australia
Canberra Velocity’s men and women secured equal-fifth place in the Asia-Pacific Tennis League playoffs at Melbourne Park today.
After their disappointing losses yesterday, Velocity rebounded brilliantly with the men leading from the outset against Pacific Oceania Dolphins, and the women coming from behind to secure victory against New Zealand Tuis.
With Davis Cup player and Velocity teammate Nick Kyrgios cheering from the sidelines, the men made a strong start with Robert Howe defeating Aymeric Mara 4-2, 4-0, and team manager Alun Jones beating Nickolas N’Godrela 4-3 (5-4), 4-2.
James Frawley then gave Velocity a 3-0 lead when he came from behind to beat Daniel Llarenas 2-4, 4-0, 4-2, before Oceania claimed one rubber when Cyril Jacobe beat Canberra’s Jake Eames 3-4 (4-2), 4-2, 2-4.
Velocity only needed to win one set in the doubles to secure the tie and fifth spot in the domestic competition.
Frawley teamed with Jake Okines to secure victory by taking the second set of their match against Jacobe-N’Godrela 4-1. However, they lost the match in a third set super-tiebreak (8-10).
Jones-Howe also traded sets with Mara-Llarenas before edging out the duo in the super-tiebreak 2-4, 4-3 (5-2), (10-3) to secure a 4-2 victory.
Velocity’s South African wildcard Chanelle Scheepers got the women off to a strong start against New Zealand, beating Dianne Hollands 4-3 (5-3), 4-0.
However Ashley Keir, Tyra Calderwood and Alison Bai all lost their singles rubbers in three tight sets to see Velocity trailing 1-3 after the singles.
Keir lost to Emma Hayman 3-4 (4-5), 4-1, 3-4 (0-4), Tyra Calderwood was beaten by wildcard Pavlina Nola 4-0, 0-4, 2-4, and Bai lost in three tiebreak sets to Abby Guthrie 4-3 (5-4), 3-4 (4-5), 3-4 3-5).
In the past the doubles has been a major problem for the Velocity women, but not today.
Bai-Keir teamed brilliantly to beat Hollands-Nola 4-2, 2-4 (10-3) and Scheepers-Calderwood defeated Guthrie-Hayman 4-2, 4-1 to secure the two-set victory and fifth spot.
