The past few weeks have seen some of the Kooyong Foundation’s brightest stars shining on an international stage in a great advertisement for the junior development programs and support in place here at the Club for aspiring tennis players.
Long time Kooyong Fitzgerald Scholarship holder Andrew Whittington made a brave run through the Australian Open Doubles event with partner Alex Bolt that included a fantastic win over last year’s world doubles champions, Fernando Verdasco and David Marrerro, 7/6 6/3 in the second round.
They then defeated the Spanish pair of Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in three gripping sets 6/7 7/6 7/5 to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time.
Playing on Rod Laver Arena for the first time, Whittington and Bolt took on the experienced pair of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic and were unfortunately beaten but had shown throughout the event they can match it with the best pairs in the world and what a great experience at their home Grand Slam in front of friends and family.
The Junior Australian Open also highlighted some of the fantastic talent being developed through the Kooyong Foundation’s programs with Omar Jasika, Marc Polmans and Destanee Aiava reaching the third round despite all having several more years of eligibility in this 18 and under event.
All three have been on Kooyong Fitzgerald Scholarships for several years and their results are extremely exciting.
Omar Jasika followed up his big week in Traralgon, where he reached the final, by reaching the third round where he was defeated Cypriot Petros Chrysochus 7/6 6/3 while Marc Polmans was beaten in the third round by 9th seed Kamil Majchrzak 6/3 6/3 after defeating Spain’s top junior and the 5th seed in the first two rounds.
Destanee Aiava again showed why she is such an exciting prospect with a wonderful run to the semi finals in Traralgon before losing to the eventual champion Elizaveta Kulichkova from Russia 7/6 6/0 in the third round.
The Club’s Asia Pacific Tennis League team also made a brave attempt to win the title despite being severely undermanned. The side won a gripping contest against the ACT in the first round before losing by a set to Brisbane in the semi finals.
They eventually finished fourth after losing four rubbers to two to Japan with both doubles unfortunately won by Japan in match tiebreaks.
