Brothers meet in epic final

Dan Milburn (pictured) narrowly beat his younger brother Noa in the men’s final of the Queenstown...
Dan Milburn (pictured) narrowly beat his younger brother Noa in the men’s final of the Queenstown Open.
Two local teenage brothers who are arguably the best New Zealand tennis players for their respective ages had a tussle for the ages to decide the men’s singles title at last weekend’s Queenstown Open.

Dan Milburn, 16, lost the first set 1-6 to Noa, 15, then rallied to easily win the second set 6-1.

The third set was then tied at 5-all before the older brother won 7-5.

"They fight each other pretty hard but it’s pretty fair," says their dad and tennis coach, Mark Milburn.

"It’s just pumping themselves up, it’s not niggly."

The brothers then stayed on the same side of the net to win their doubles, 6-1, 6-2, over Mikey Mather and Bjorn Pollock.

Noa Milburn.
Noa Milburn.
It was Dan’s first win in the Queenstown Tennis Club Open, after his brother, Kai, 18, won last year — Kai last month took up a four-year tennis scholarship at the University of Mississippi (‘Ole Miss’) after narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Junior Australian Open.

In December, Dan won the under-16 nationals while Noa was flown to the United States by the International Tennis Federation to play in the world’s most prestigious junior tournaments, Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl.

At Orange Bowl Noa reached the third round in the singles and semis in the doubles before his partner pulled out injured.

"He was actually number one seed for the Orange Bowl doubles with one of his mates," Mark says.

Meanwhile, the boys’ 9-year-old sister, Ena, played her first Open at the weekend and had some success in both singles and doubles

"She’s got some spirit, put it that way," Mark says.

In the women’s draw, Charlie Byers won the singles title via the round robin, and she and Grace Begg beat Felicity Oxnevad and Karen Mitchell 6-2, 6-4 to take the doubles title.

Thirty-five players entered the Lone Star-sponsored tournament, including visitors from Germany and Luxembourg.

 

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