The 2011 Lismore Open Age Tennis Championship was a fantastic tournament for Armidale and North West juniors in general. It was a Bronze points ranked tournament which attracted some of the best juniors in NSW and QLD. Tournament director John Stoddart said that although numbers were down this year the standard had not dropped.
“We had 150 players and we’ve probably lost about 50 kids from last year,” Stoddart said.
Conor Dennehy of Armidale made it to the quarter finals of the main round of the Under 12 boys event however went down to Thomas Giles the number 3 seed. Conor then partnered up with Sam O’Gorman of Gunnedah to reach the finals of the 12 boys doubles but unfortunately conceded to the Stoddart brothers of Lismore, 6-2, 6-0. Angus Apps of Armidale and partner Drew Osmond of Gunnedah put up a mighty campaign in their semi-final for the under 12 doubles but were very unlucky and went down in the super- tie breaker 10-8 .
Sahra Dennehy, 9 of Armidale, battled it out in the finals of the Under 10 girls against Lily Pade of Coffs Harbour, an evenly matched fight with a tie-breaker going either way but finally Lily defeated Sahra 7-5. A great match for two talented young highly-ranked players.
Gabby O’Gorman of Gunnedah has been on a winning streak lately after winning the state age titles with Gabby Ruffels from Melbourne. Gabby O’Gorman fought illness and went down to the eventual national champion in the quarter finals and went on to get 5th place in the national titles by beating the 3rd and 5th seed. She has continued this trend by winning the under 14 Girls singles against Ammaarah Tim 6-0, 6-1 and then came runner up in the 14 Girls doubles with her partner Nikita Avery at this Lismore tournament.
Overall the North West had many junior players make the final rounds of events in the main draw and in the consolation rounds. Gunnedah player Zac Martin had to forfeit his matches due to a broken foot unfortunately, he was well on his way to having great success at the tournament.
For further information on tennis in the North West contact Justin Sherrifff on 0423 915850 or regional administrator Heather Apps on 0427080567 or nwtennis @bigpond.com
