15 Apr 2009

QUEENSLAND players featured in all of yesterday’s finals matches of The Rock - Kasey Sinclair Classic at Scottvale Park in Rockhampton, but it wasn’t the whitewash that was expected.

While any hopes of a local division winner faded in the semi finals with the defeat of under-17 girls competitor Kelly Preston, her Queensland team-mates still managed to turn up the heat for some nail-biting matches.

The under-19 boys final was closely contested between AIS Queensland player Jacob Alexander and Ipswich’s Sunil Seth.

Both players fought neck-and-neck for each game before Alexander finally won out 3-1.
In the girls under-19 division, AIS Queensland player Zoe Petrovansky defeated Victoria’s Sarah Cardwell, the daughter of former Australian and world number one Vicki Cardwell.

The first game was quite a hustle between the two, who seemed evenly matched.

But Petrovansky then lifted a notch, taking out the next two games to seal the match.

The under-17 boys final was played out between the Gold Coast’s Sam Fife and Wesley Cusick from New South Wales.

Fife won the match in three games.

In the girls division, Queensland’s Dijo Sexton beat Sharmaine Mills from the Northern Territory in three very close games.

In what may have been the closest match of the tournament, Emerald youngster John Peacey went down to Western Australia’s Kane Koteka in three games to two in the under-15 boys division.
 
After a few upsets early in the draw, the division final was no different, with all five games going down to the wire.

Queensland again suffered defeat in the under-15 girls match when the number two seed, Bethany Brazier, went down to Emily Bunting of Western Australia three games to nil.

In the under-13 boys division, Rohan Toole of New South Wales beat Queensland’s Ivan Jensen in three games.

New Zealand’s Abbie Palmer also took a convincing win against Lakeesha Rarere from Brisbane.

Tournament administrator Melissa Prentice said the level of competition at the tournament was extremely high, with the top eight players from each state competing.

"Numbers were certainly higher than expected and all the top players from within each of the states were here," Ms Prentice said.

"The tournament was run wornderfully and competitors played in extremely difficult conditions with the muggy and hot weather."

The second tournament in the National Junior Series, The Rockhampton Regional Council – Peta Hughes Classic, will start on Thursday.