Giant killer: Echuca Village’s Josh Bavich sprung one of the bigger upsets in early Goulburn Valley Open competition, knocking out Tier 2 top seed Brett Kelly.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
The Goulburn Valley Open and Junior Championships are under way for another year at Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club, though the week’s weather concerns threaten to take centre stage.
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Although storms intervened late and remain heavily forecast through the remainder of this week for the Greater Shepparton area, most of the opening day’s play took place under mostly sunny, if not muggy, conditions on the grass courts.
Observers aplenty found shade under the trees and roofs courtside as a field of more than 250 entrants took part in a sea of contests at the complex.
The top men’s seeds in the Open T1 draw breezed through their first two rounds, with local women’s number one seed Olivia Quigley taking barely half an hour to ease through her opening encounter on Wednesday.
The early action buoyed Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club’s Malcolm Thiel.
“It’s all going all right on the first day. It’s a long way to go yet, but we’re off to a good start with lots of players here,” Thiel said.
“(Men’s number one) Josh Charlton has been in the US playing tennis since he won here five years ago.
With style: Mornington's Brett Kelly connects on a forehand.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Ready to fire: Shepparton's Fergus Kearney goes into his service.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Full control: Derrimut's Taylor Briffa latches on to a backhand.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Turn and go: Melbourne's Reilly Scollo returns on the move.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Precision: Shepparton's Hope Curtis-McDonald goes to slice.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Quick mover: Tatura's Matilda Cameron extends to keep the rally going.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Ready set: Numurkah's Hannah O'Brien looks to direct her serve.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Charlton has started imposingly, dropping just two games in a dominant pair of victories that took a little more than two hours of court time Tuesday.
Shepparton’s Hope Curtis-McDonald got her women’s singles campaign off to the right start as well on her home turf, although the arrival of raging storms would eventually move her encounter with fifth seed Simone Cameron off the Tuesday menu.
Once able to resume, Curtis-McDonald finished the job in eliminating her ranked opponent 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
The news was not so bright for fellow Goulburn Murray Lawn Tennis Association regulars Jeremy and Hannah O’Brien of Numurkah Warriors.
Jeremy went the distance before his run ended in a first-round super tiebreaker to Ned Simpson, while Hannah fell to Chloe Connell in straight sets.
Though the action was heating up early, the rain will maintain its ever-present cloud over the tournament schedule.
After a deluge befell the courts Tuesday night, Wednesday morning’s play was on under the uncertain sun, but with about one-third of courts still unavailable, and many contests held under truncated Fast4 rules.
“That threat is still with us at the moment,” Thiel said.
“The contingencies depend on how much rain or wind we get, but at the end of the day, we have to finish inside our four days.
“Some of the longer matches have been shortened, but if all the courts dry out, we’ll be able to play full length matches.
“We got some volunteers down here with buckets and they got the puddles off the courts, and we got play started on the four synthetic courts.
“It’ll be an ongoing assessment as more courts become available, but we’ll play up to 8.30pm and turn on the lights if we have to.”
Snapping shots for The News around courts was Rechelle Zammit.
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