{"id":19608,"date":"2019-12-08T16:39:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T06:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=19608"},"modified":"2019-12-08T16:39:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T06:09:52","slug":"charlotte-kempenaers-pocz-and-alexander-despoja-crowned-australian-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2019\/12\/08\/charlotte-kempenaers-pocz-and-alexander-despoja-crowned-australian-champions","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz and Alexander Despoja crowned Australian Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz<\/strong> (Glengowrie, SA) and Alexander Despoja<\/strong> (Hawthorndene, SA) are Australian Champions, after taking out their respective 18\/u and 14\/u singles titles at Melbourne Park this weekend.<\/p>\n

Fifteen-year-old Kempenaers-Pocz came in to the 18-and-under tournament as a wildcard recipient and made her way to Saturday\u2019s final against fellow South Australian, Natasha Russell,<\/strong> without dropping a set.<\/p>\n

In the final, Kempenaers-Pocz lost the opening set 4-6, but came back to take the second set 6-2 before Russell was forced to retire with a back injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit nervous at the start and Tash was playing extremely well, so I just had to stay in there,\u201d Kempenaers-Pocz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew before the match she was struggling a bit with injury, but I didn\u2019t think too much of it because she was still hitting a lot of winners.<\/p>\n

\u201c(My expectations) weren\u2019t very high. I just wanted to do my best, stay composed, stay strong and play every match as it comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven being a wildcard, this makes me realise I can still achieve what I want. It\u2019s a big achievement. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be doing this at 15, so I\u2019m really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kempenaers-Pocz joins world No.1 Ash Barty<\/strong> on the 18-and-under girls\u2019 trophy and has now earned her place in the draw for next week\u2019s Australian Open 2020 Play-off.<\/p>\n

In the 14-and-under boys\u2019 championship, second seed Alexander <\/strong>Despoja<\/strong> \u00a0(SA) overcame top seed Zachary Viiala<\/strong> (WA) 6-3 7-6(6). He joins familiar names such as Todd Woodbridge, John Millman and most recently Alex de Minaur (2013) in winning the 14\/u title.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t realise that I\u2019d won it … I didn’t know if it was in or not (smiling). It felt really good to get the win, especially off a winner as well,\u201d Despoja said.<\/p>\n

“It was pretty crucial to close the match out, because if I lost that set, the third set would have been a lot tougher \u2013 Zach would have had a lot of momentum.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s amazing to win, I mean I’m still in shock right now — it’s hasn’t sunk in for me yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despoja and Viiala then paired up on the same side of the court to take out the 14-and-under boys\u2019 doubles title with a 7-6(2) 6-4 win over second seeds Charlie Camus <\/strong>(ACT) and Pavle Marinkov<\/strong> (NSW).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to congratulate our Australian Champions, Charlotte and Alexander,\u201d Tennis SA CEO, Debbie Sterrey<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results are a reflection hard work, persistence and determination and it is great to see our young players performing so wonderfully on the national stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also cannot forget the families, coaches and staff who support and work so closely with these players, congratulations to all on a fantastic achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur athletes experiencing success is as a result of a strong private sector that works in continuously with Tennis SA and the National Academy,\u201d National Academy South Australia Head Coach, Milo Bradley<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contribution of the associations, clubs, and private coaches in South Australia are second to none. Together, we are committed to delivering athletes who represent South Australia with good principles and values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time in 15 years that South Australia has had two finalists in the 18-and-under girls\u2019 tournament. With a strong group of South Australian girls coming through the pathway, it is hoped that one day a second South Australian will be able to join our sole Fed Cup representative, Alicia Molik.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex Despoja is the latest South Australian to become a 14-and-under Australian Champion, joining Edward Winter and Edward Vo in recent years. There is a healthy pool of male and female tennis talent emerging, and the future for all is bright.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz (Glengowrie, SA) and Alexander Despoja (Hawthorndene, SA) are Australian Champions, after taking out their respective 18\/u and 14\/u singles titles at Melbourne Park this weekend. Fifteen-year-old Kempenaers-Pocz came in to the 18-and-under tournament as a wildcard recipient and made her way to Saturday\u2019s final against fellow South Australian, Natasha Russell, without dropping a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5736,"featured_media":19609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}