Australian's Claim 3 Titles at Australian Junior International

 

The finals of the Australian Junior International were played today with Australian's claiming three titles. The stand out performer was Queenslands Wendy Chen who won the girls singles and doubles events and was runner up in the mixed doubles.

The day started off with what was an unexpected final. 3/4 seed South Australian Verdet Kessler had defeated the top seed in the semi final while Wendy Chen had defeated the second seed and 3/4 seed in the quarter and semi finals respectively, playing well above the 5/8 seed that was given to her. Chen got off to the stronger start of the two players and breezed through the first game 21-8 before Kessler leveled the match at one game all after taking the second game 15-21. However it was to be Chen who would continue her giant killing run, taking out her higher seeded opponent 21-16 in the decider.

The boys singles final was a much more one sided affair, with second seed Luke Charlesworth of New Zealand claiming comfortable a straight games victory 21-12 21-17 over his compatriot Asher Richardson.

Wendy Chen was back on court with fellow Queenslander Christina Chan in the girls doubles final, taking on Victorian's Louisa Ma. After the first set the Victorian pairing was in full control, but a strong fight back from Chen and Chan had the game back on even terms. In a closely fought set it was to be the Queenslanders who would come out on top with a 11-21 21-18 21-17 victory, making it two titles from two finals for Chen.

The boys doubles saw unseeded Victorian Sawan Serasinghe and Western Australian Bryan Tang team up to take on New Zealand's 3/4 seeds Maika Phillips and Te Ao Kura Van Selm. The Australian's started strongly to control the match from early on to take the first game 21-17. From there they didn't let the kiwis back into the match, taking the second game and with it their forst national title 21-16.

The final match of the day was the mixed doubles final, seeing Wendy Chen attempting to claim the triple crown and Luke Charlesworth aiming for his second title of the day. With a top seed yet to claim a title, unseeded Chen and Mitchell Wheller would have been confident going into the game against the top seeded Kiwis Charlesworth and Mary O'Connor. But any confidence was to be short lived, with Charlesworth and O'Connor showing why they were giving the number 1 tag, claiming a comfortable 21-17 21-17 win.

Players will now turn their focus to the CP Maddern Teams' Championships which gets underway on Wednesday.