RAIN COMES BEFORE CHAMPIONS CAN REIGN
IT was another weekend and another talent-rich tennis tournament on the Gold Coast.
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t help out.
The quality was extremely high at the 2019 Mapei Open Championship, which took place at Gold Coast Albert Junior Tennis Club in Burleigh Waters. The tournament saw aspiring, semi-professional and once professional players battle it out on court to take home the title, an Australian ranking point boost and $400 prizemoney.
With Queensland’s abundance of US college players home on their northern summer break, the competition was intense.
Play was over three days in five events and involved 98 players on 10 courts.
Unfortunately the good run with the weather came to an end on Sunday afternoon and the men’s and women’s finals were unable to be completed.
In the men’s singles semifinals, qualifier Nash Vollenweider beat third seed Liam Puttergill with a 11-9 win in the deciding tie-break.
The second semi-final was just as intense, as fifth seed Haru Sonton and second seed Adam Gadecki battled it out for more than two hours before Haru proceeded into the final with a 10-8 victory in another match-deciding tie-break.
The women’s singles saw Hope Island’s 17-yearold super talent Olivia Gadecki storm through to the final.
Joining Gadecki in an all-Queensland final was fifth seed Danielle Morris, who initially enjoyed soaking up the Coast’s fabulous winter sun while on a break from the US college circuit.
Gadecki, the No.1 seed, was in control of the final after winning the first set 6-3 and was leading 3-1 in the second when the rain put an end to proceedings.