17 December 2020 | Sean O'Kane

Tennis Victoria’s Junior UTR State Championships ended yesterday with 19 Junior Tennis Players crowned State Champions. 

In the first major Junior Tennis Event in Victoria since the easing of COVID restrictions, the 12-day event brought the best young Tennis talent in the state to Bendigo in the Wheelchair, 12/U, 14/U, 16/U and 18/U Boys and Girls disciplines. 

All players used the UTR Junior State Championships as a springboard for the summer of Tennis ahead, with valuable match play opportunities in both Singles and Doubles. 

In the pinnacle of the Championships, the Under 18 events, it was US-College commits Enzo Aquiard (Royal Park) and Matthew Bosancic (Brighton) who battled it out in the Boys Singles Final, with Aguiard claiming victory 6-4, 6-4, and 16-year-old rising star Leann Serna (Hume) who won the Under 18 Girls Singles, defeating Jelena Cvijanovic 5-7, 7-5, 10-5.
 
In the doubles, it was Jemma Carbis (Hume) and Serna who defeated Jelena Cvijanovic and Klaire Elkin. Bosancic and Aguiard teamed up to win the Boys Doubles.

Over 400 matches were completed across the 12 days of competition where players enjoyed the chance to test their ability in a round robin competition in the group stage, before continuing through a knockout process to find the champions of each age group in Singles and Doubles.  

The week also saw the rising stars of Tennis on show in the 12/U, 14/U and 16/U Singles Championships, as well as the Victorian Wheelchair State Championships 

The 12/U competition saw Rupert Sever (Torquay) defeat Roman Filipovic 6-4, 6-1 in the Boys Singles and Ava Beck (Bundoora) steady in the tiebreak to defeat Jasmine Mathew in a close contest in the Girls Singles Final (6-1, 4-6, 10-5). 

In the 16/U Singles, Stefi Webb (Reservoir) won the Girls Singles 6-4, 6-1 against Ruby Grace Rothman and Cooper Errey (Ivanhoe) defeated Hanival Kahsay 6-3, 6-0. 

Earlier in the Championships, the 14/U competition saw Isabella Crossman (Echuca) come from a set down to defeat Gabrielle Villegas in a tie breaker 11-9. The Boys 14/ U Champion Jarrod Joyce (Ballarat) defeated fellow regional player Logan Casey (Horsham) 6-3, 6-4. 

The Wheelchair Singles event saw Riley Dumsday (Mornington) defeat Saalim Naser 6-2, 7-6 and the Wheelchair Doubles saw Jin Woodman (Sunbury) and Naser come from a set behind to claim victory 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 against Dumsday and Megan Beatty. 

Matches were played in a competitive and respectful manner with Officials very pleased with the level of behaviour and etiquette displayed. 

The UTR Junior State Championships were run by Tennis Victoria and contribute to the Universal Tennis Rating, a world-recognised Tennis rating system.  
 
Tennis Victoria would like to thank the staff and volunteers at the Fosterville Gold (Bendigo) Tennis Centre and the City of Greater Bendigo for their support of the Junior UTR State Championships.