Jonathon Cooper, the No.1 men’s seed, and Pamela Boyanov, the No.5 women’s seed, won the men’s and women’s 2012 Sydney University Open Tennis titles at the Manning lawn courts last week.
A Silver-level Australian ranking tournament with $5000 prizemoney on offer, the event again attracted a strong field of local, interstate and international players.
For the first time this year, both the men’s and women’s singles finals on Thursday were officiated by a chair umpire and linespeople from Tennis Officials Australia.
The Open Men’s Singles title was taken out by Cooper. With an Australian ranking of #62, Cooper clawed his way back from a set and 4-1 down to defeat No.4 seed Sean Carson 3-6 7-6 (0) 6-4 in two-and-a-half hours.
“I’ve just come back from playing clay court tournaments in Serbia,” the Botany journeyman said after his gutsy win. “It took me a while to adjust to the faster pace on the grass.”
With a career high ATP ranking of 1140 in December 2009, Cooper hopes to break into the top 1000 world players in 2013.
The Open Women’s Singles was won by Boyanov, who defeated No.1 seed Daneille Wagland in straight sets 6-4 7-5.
Ranked #149 in Australia, the Cherrybrook junior put in a disciplined performance to defeat an erratic Wagland, who is ranked almost 100 places higher than Boyanov at #53.
In the Open Men’s Doubles final, Sydney University’s Michael Power and Chris Peters staved off five straight match points in the match tie-breaker to record a 2-6 6-3 11-9 win over No.2 seeds Mitchell George and Nathan Lewis.
Power was electric in adding this year’s doubles crown to his giant-killing performance as the 2011 Open Men’s Singles champion.
“I love these courts,” he said after the match. “This sort of intense match play is a great preparation for our AUGs (Australia University Games) defence next week.”
Honours also went to the University in the Open Women’s Doubles event, with Rachel Assef and Rebecca Goh following up on a straight sets semi-final victory over the No.1 seeds with a 2-6 6-3 10-8 win over the No.2 two seed pairing of Alexandra Ho and Rebecca Jones in the final.
Scoreboard
Lawn Tennis – Sydney University Open – Finals
Men’s Open Singles: Jonathon Cooper d Sean Carson 3-6 7-6 (0), 6-4.
Men’s Open Doubles: Michael Power and Chris Peters d Mitchell George and Nathan Lewis 2-6 6-3 11-9.
Women’s Open Singles: Pamela Boyanov d Danielle Wagland 6-4 7-5.
