There were mixed fortunes for Sydney University teams in the first round of the Sydney Autumn Badge tennis competition held on Saturday afternoon.
Two of the Sydney University women’s teams had impressive away wins at Royal Sydney, while the men’s 1/1 team continued their good form from last year to defeat Canterbury Bankstown convincingly at home.
In the showcard women’s match on Manning courts 1 and 2, Sydney University’s Benita Milenkiewicz and Casey Cross proved a potent combination in winning their opening two sets 6-0 6-2 against Vanessa Thompson and the highly-ranked Ivana Kafedjilyska from Roseville.
However, former Sydney University representative player Melissa Anderson and talented junior Stephanie Yamada were too strong for the current University duo in the reverse rubbers, with the Roseville pair claiming both sets by a scoreline of 6-4 6-2.
Meanwhile, a big-hitting display on Manning courts 7 and 8 saw Sydney University’s Steve Goh and Anthony Tuong drop the first set tie-breaker to former University players Matt Steel and Rod Stubbs (the brother of multiple Grand Slam doubles champion and Australian Open tennis commentator, Rennae).
However, the University boys rebounded quickly and were untroubled in taking the remaining three sets 6-4 6-4 6-3.
On the adjacent court, Kris Balakrishnan and Brian Ly won all four of their sets, dropping only 10 games in total for the match.
Sydney Badge competition -Round 1
Women
1/1 Roseville (1) 6/38 d Sydney University (1) 2/18 at Manning
1/4 Neutral Bay (1) 4/40 d Sydney University (2) 2/26 at Manning
1/4 Manly (4) 6/43 d Sydney University (3) 2/29 at Manning
2/1 Sydney University (4) 7/47 d Royal Sydney (2) 1/21 at Royal Sydney
2/2 Sydney University (5) 5/43 d Royal Sydney (4) 3/29 at Royal Sydney
Men
1/1 Sydney University (1) 7/47 d Canterbury Bankstown (1) 1/27 at Manning
1/2 Royal Sydney (1) 7/47 d Sydney University (2) 1/22 at Manning
1/4 Killara (2) d Sydney University (3) w/o
1/5 Tennis Valley (3) 5/39 def SU (4) 3/33 at Tennis Valley
2/1 Collaroy (1) 5/36 def SU (5) 3/29 at Collaroy
2/2 Mosman (1) 7/42 def SU (6) 1/16 at Mosman
2/3 SU (7) 8/48 def SU (8) 0/15 at Manning
2/6 SU (9) 7/47 def Cheltenham (2) 1/30 at Manning
2/8 Cheltenham (3) 4/27 def SU (10) 4/24 at Cheltenham
3/1 Neutral Bay (6) 8/48 def SU (11) 0/13 at Neutral Bay
3/2 Royal Sydney (8) 4/39 def SU (12) 4/33 at Royal Sydney
