Trophies for young tennis champs

PAKENHAM Tennis Club held its annual Club Championships at the Anderson Street courts over the Australia Day weekend, with 46 players competing in singles and doubles matches.
Some of the juniors even backed up to compete in the senior events.
Sixteen-year-old Emily Dillon retained her title with a dominant 8-0 victory in the junior girls’ singles grand final over Carly Mittemair 8-0.
Clay Ingram won the junior boys’ decider 8-2 against Andrew Eckersley.
The B-grade boys’ singles event saw some of the club’s youngest juniors compete on the singles court for the first time, with Gab Schilling taking out the event with a 6-2 win over Travis Fitton in the final.
The junior doubles pitted Grant Elliot and Andrew Eckersley against Brad and Steph McLean in a hard-fought final.
Brad and Steph started strongly, but Grant and Andrew finished the better, triumphing 8-7 in a thrilling tiebreaker.
Club coach Paul Osborne defeated secretary and fellow life member Gordon Berry 8-1 in the men’s singles, while Simone Dillon went one step further this year in winning the ladies’ singles final 8-2 over Emma Osborne.
Paul Osborne and Emily Dillon won a nailbiting senior doubles final 8-7 over Gordon Berry and Sean Arthur.
Ian and Steph McLean emerged victorious 8-6 in the B-grade senior doubles over Phil Rotterveel and Matt Berry.
Trophies for all the winners and runners-up will be awarded at the end-of-season presentation night in March.
Competition matches and coaching programs resume at the club this week.
The Pakenham Tennis Club committee would like to thank all those who competed in the Club Championships for helping make the event such a success.
For further information on tennis coaching or the various competitions at Pakenham Tennis Club, contact Paul Osborne on 5629 2121.