FINALISTS in the junior Australian Grasscourt Championships at Mildura Lawn Tennis Club have been decided, with a shot at glory now on the line on Saturday.
Perhaps the biggest semi-final upsets came in the under 12 girls’ section where Musemma Celik and Ami Dalla Pozza eliminated the top two seeds to set up a showdown for the title.
The duo defeated Suri Suchovsky (seed one) and Eleni Makantasis (two) in yesterday’s match-ups, who before then had not dropped a set between them for the tournament.
Cilek, a finalist in December’s 12 and under Australian Junior Tour Masters, won an almost-three-hour battle against Suchovsky 6-3 4-6 6-4, who previously had lost only seven games in three matches.
Dalla Pozza secured a hard-fought 7-5 7-5 result against Makantasis in just over two hours, following a three-hour three-setter on Thursday in her quarter-final match-up with Yana Pchelintseva.
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In the under 12 boys’ qualifier Ryan Bolger forced his way through to the final but faces a tough match-up with second seed Novak Palombo.
It took Bolger almost three hours to take down fifth seed Sebastian Lavorato, but he got the job done in a roller-coaster match 6-1 6-7 6-1.
Palombo, who has lost just 16 games while winning 48 across his four matches, made the final by defeating Christian Joseph 6-2 6-3 in just over an hour.
The top two seeds in both under 14 sections will face-off in their respective finals.
Brooke Komorowski and Bhavya Bhardwaj have been dominant in the under 14 girls, setting up an enthralling final match-up.
Respective straight-sets victories over Sofia Savic (6-3 6-2) and Taylor Glennon (6-1 6-1) saw both players make it through to the final without losing a set.
Under 14 boys’ top seed Lucas Han was made to work in his semi-final against the impressive George Wills, requiring two hours to secure the three-set victory.
After winning the first set and dropping the second, Han held Wills at bay to win 6-3 4-6 6-2.
Second seed Heaton Pann made it through to the final when opponent Ashton Coster retired following a first-set tiebreak won by Pann 7-6.
It was the first set Coster had dropped but the youngster was unable to continue, paving a path for the second seed to move into the final.
Finals contests in singles and doubles begin at 8.30am at Mildura Lawn Tennis Club.
