Ballarat’s Matilda Myers prevailed in an epic Ballarat Regional JT Championship girls’ 12/under final against fellow Ballarat girl Jenna Gleeson.
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Myers won 7-5, 6-7 (4), 12-10 in a touch over three hours. The marathon match became a battle of nerve rather than power or guile. As the match got tighter, the players became understandably tentative as both girls refused to make an error, which made for nerve-racking rallies, regularly in excess of 30 shots.
Gleeson saved one match point in the second set and then trailed 9-7 in the super tie-break, saving three more match points, then another at 10-9 before Myers managed to claim victory following a 33-shot rally on her fifth match point.
The young gun said she was relieved to get the win.
“It’s quite nerve-racking,” Myers said.
“Me and Jenna are good friends and we train together – it’s always close between us.
“Sometimes I just felt like lying on the ground, I was so tired.”
Unfortunately fellow Ballarat youngster Hugh McManus did not enjoy the same success.
He went down to Harry Boyd in the boys’ 16/under final 6-3, 6-1 and then lost a tight doubles final with partner Andrew Ziaras 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).
