16 March; Melbourne University Tennis Club
In its inaugural season at the start of 2020, the Pac-6 intervarsity tennis championships concluded mid-competition due to COVID-19 with the University of Melbourne on top of the standings. While the competition hasn't continued for 2021 due to continued travel restrictions, the year has started the same for the newly reformed Melbourne team who travelled to Sydney to take on the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) on Saturday, while weather curtailed a Sunday matchup with the University of Sydney.
The team flew in Saturday morning and kept flying high on the court, defeating UTS in both the Men’s and Women’s matches. The matches were well fought with some stellar rallies and heartwarming tennis.
The doubles match of the day went to the friends pairing of Burbridge/Jansz who defeated Eddy/Sun, 10-6 in the 3rd set super tiebreak. After a slow start, the pair found their form and chemistry to put the women's team up 2-0 in the doubles after Isella/Silapurem defeated their opponents 7/6 6/2. In the men's doubles, #1 pairing of Tranquille/Watson and #2 pairing of Stathos/Potter both won convincingly in straight sets.
Following the doubles, the men's singles started off much closer with Melbourne splitting the first 2 singles matches with UTS. Captain and #3 player, Isaac Watson stormed through his match 6/2 6/2 without missing a ball, whilst in the women’s singles, senior Michela Isella battled hard with a fractured left finger in a match that produced great tennis.
In the final two singles matches of the day, Melbourne Uni finished like a freight train, sweeping all 4 remaining matches. #1 veteran Tranquille, fought past an inspired opponent in Novakovic, squeezing past 11-9 in the 3rd set tie-break, alongside #2 Marcus Stathos who made light work of Placek in just over an hour. #2 Pearl Jansz played the match of the day, screaming past Maiki Sun 6/1 6/1 in a match that entertained more than the score presented.
Unfortunately due to weather, matches with the University of Sydney on the famous lawn courts that were planned on Sunday had to be cancelled.
Scoreboard
D1. Tranquille/Watson df. Novakovic/Placek 76(8) 62
D2. Stathos/Potter df. Goddard/Deep 62 63
S1. Tranquille df. Novakovic 36 64 11-9
S2. Stathos df. Placek 62 62
S3. Watson df. Farquharson 62 62
S4. Goddard df. Potter 75 62
D1. Burbridge/Jansz df. Eddy/Sun 26 63 10-6
D2. Isella/Silapurem df. Cowdery/Katerdijan 76(0) 62
S1. Eddy df. Isella 64 62
S2. Jansz df. Sun 61 61
S3. Raj df. Burbridge 61 36 12-10
S4. Silapurem df. Cowdery 64 46 10-8
🏆 (MENS) Melb Uni (5) df. UTS (1)
🏆 (WOMENS) Melb Uni (4) df. UTS (2)