Sharma lands a title in Top End
TENNIS DIFFERENT city, different state and a completely different court.
But, after two days of delays and a two-hour flight across the Gulf of Carpentaria, Astra Sharma is finally the female champion of the 2018 Cairns Tennis International, beating fellow Australian Destanee Aiava in three sets.
Like Jacob Grills on the men’s side of the draw on Sunday night, Sharma will be able to tell the wild tale of the time it took her two days across two states to win the highest prize in Far North tennis.
After the men’s final lasted more than seven hours because of rain on Sunday, the women’s final was able to commence for one set before rain stopped play just before 8pm.
Aiava displayed all her strength and potential in the first set as she skipped to a 6-0 lead before the rain set in.
The duo sat in the players’ lounge until the call was made to finish up about 9.30pm.
The pair were set to return at 7am yesterday to complete the match but that too was called off due to a wet court, and they moved the final to the Top End of Australia.
Once in the NT, Sharma won the second set and the 23year-old from Perth claimed the $25,000 late yesterday.
Sharma only gave up three points on her serve in the third set as she took out her maiden Australian Pro Tour title, 6-0, 6-7, 1-6.
“I was able to use the travel and the move as a complete reset from the first set,” Sharma said last night from Darwin. “I put that first set in the trash and just moved on.
“I just worked on absorbing Destanee’s first serve and then worked on from there.”
Sharma has won a $25,000 tournament in the US before but yesterday’s triumph was her first on home soil.
Players, umpires and officials were keen to finish the game in Cairns but, with most already having flights and accommodation booked for Darwin from yesterday, for the start of the next leg of the Australian Pro Tour, the International Tennis Federation approved the decision to move the rest of the tournament.
“The decision was made with the agreement of both players, the local venue and the ITF to move the match to the next stop on the Australian Pro Tour,” a Tennis Australia spokesman said. “We thank the Cairns Regional Council, all the sponsors and all the fans for their … understanding.”
However the 2018 edition of the tournament is likely to be the last to be rain-affected as the Cairns Regional Tennis Centre secured a major facility upgrade, with a $2 million roof to be built over centre court and the adjacent Hot Shots mini courts.
The funding was announced earlier this year, with $1 million each committed by Canberra and Cairns council. It should be finished in time for the 2019 event.