Mount Gambier players hold court at tennis championships

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Mount Gambier players hold court at tennis championships

Aprominent Mount Gambier tennis player has returned triumphant from the Australian Seniors Tennis Championships in Adelaide, while other locals also had successful campaigns.


In the Women’s 60 Division 2 competition West Gambier’s Joanne Sealey and Lucindale’s Leanne Graetz and Leanne McCarthy represented South Australia.


The ladies competed well, finishing fourth on the ladder with three wins.


On the men’s side, Uniting’s Andrew van den Hurk took home the championship in the men’s 30/35/40 competition.


His team finished second on the ladder, only losing one game which came at the hands of the other SA team in the M35 team who finished undefeated at the top of the ladder.


After beating Queensland in the semi final the two South Australian teams met in the grand final.


In the final van den Hurk came up short in his doubles match, losing 6-5, 6-4.


However his side was still able to take home the championship as it came down to games with the two sides tied on four sets.


The Men’s 40 team just edged out the 35 team, winning 41 games to 35.


van den Hurk said it was very satisfying winning the championship at that level of tennis.


“It was a really good feeling, I have not competed at that level previously,” he said.


“It was great to have some really good competition and to play on some different surfaces and I had a really good bunch of guys in my team.


“It was just a great experience all round.”


van den Hurk thought his side played the best in the grand final against a really tough opponent.


“The grand final was outstanding, I think everyone played their best on the day,” he said.


“The team we beat in the final we actually lost to earlier in the week so we were not far off in the first match but we managed to turn it around in the final which was really good.


“We dealt with the pressure really well and performed at the right time.”


Despite only losing one game van den Hurk believed the competition during the week was top tier.


“We generally won relatively comfortably against the other states but the competition was still quite good,” he said.


“We won a lot of the close matches so the results looked like they swayed quite a way towards us but it was definitely closer than what the scores suggested but there was definitely some very good and close tennis.”

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