Published on Tennis Australia's website during my five day work experience stint in Melbourne.
Second seeds Anastasia Berezov (NSW) and Tai Sach (QLD) played strong matches on Sunday to be crowned 16/u Australian champions, earning junior wildcard entries into Australian Open 2019.
The 16/u girls’ final kicked off the day’s play, yet just three games in rain fell and suspended play.
Over three hours after the match began, Berezov ultimately defeating top seed Olivia Gadecki by a competitive 6-3 7-5 scoreline.
Berezov had some close matches during the event – twice before the final she was extended to three sets – yet the 15-year-old held firm to end the week a winner.
“I just kept believing in myself and just kept going day by day,” she said.
“I will be doing a lot of training and I will have a couple of tournaments before (the Australian Open). Just keeping my game stable and solid, just keep progressing.”
In the boy’s 16/u final, Enzo Aguiard was looking for his second straight upset win after beating third seed Cooper White in the semifinals.
Yet he could not unseat Sach, who ran out a 6-3 6-3 winner to end a self-described “tough” year on a high.
“It was a very good match, I felt a bit nervous at the start of this match. I knew Enzo was a good player so I knew I had to bring my best game out there,” he told tennis.com.au.
Sach will also compete in a number of ITF tournaments before returning to Melbourne Park in January.
Sach was unable to complete a clean sweep of the 16/u titles; in the doubles final, he and partner Haru Sonton fell to No.1 seeds Cooper White and Alex Bulte 6-3 6-4.
Berezov also reached the doubles final – with Tina Smith – but went down to Roopa Bains and Natasha Russell 7-6(1) 1-6 [10-6].