Tennis: Otago juniors to fore

Sian English
Sian English
Otago juniors have achieved some outstanding results at national circuit tournaments this week.

Sian English, competing in the Northern Region Championships on the North Shore, won seven straight matches in the 18 and under title, dropping only five games in doing so. She also shared the doubles title with three straight sets wins.

In the Auckland championships, Mitchell Sizemore (14) lost his second-round match, but then won four matches to claim the consolation event. He also partnered Australian 12 and under titleholder Finn Reynolds to the doubles title.

Sizemore has also had five fine singles wins at senior level in Dunedin club tennis.

A point of interest is that Sizemore beat Alex Limberger in the final.

Limberger is the son of Carl Limberger and Claudine Toleafoa, who met when Limberger was an Australian import for the Otago National League side in the 1990s.

Peter Hartono has won the final of the Wellington 12 and under title, dropping only eight games in his five matches.

His younger brother, Thomas, also shows great promise, being very competitive against older boys in the same event.

Queenstown's Bjorn Pollock (12) is set to carry on the strong record of Academy players from that town, and he has upset the seedings, winning six round-robin matches comfortably then his next three in the top eight knockout, to win the Auckland title.

He beat the top seed Alexander Borodin in the semifinal and Ivica Batnozic 4-6 6-4 6-0 in the final.

Roger Federer has survived a huge scare to reach the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals and guarantee a 300th career week as world No 1, AFP reports.

The Swiss 17-time grand slam champion went into the match against compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka with an 11-1 head-to-head record but was forced to dig deep before winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-0.

 

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