UWA hosted the inaugural University Tennis League against The University of Adelaide in a regional qualifier on Wednesday 7 August.
The University Tennis League is a new inter-university competition created by UniSport Australia in collaboration with Tennis Australia, seeking to determine the best tennis university in the country and develop competitive pathways in Tennis.
The pilot program will involve a qualifying fixture that includes multiple other universities across the country. These matches will be played within four regional conferences with UWA taking on The University of Adelaide on home soil.
The UWA Maali squad included seven student athletes that are largely involved with the UWA Tennis Club. The talented squad coached by Simon Harper were impressive from the start with UWA winning the first three double rubbers.
After a minor rain delay, UWA moved into the singles rubber with Max Weir, Luca Katsamakis Saanvi Tak, and Mahaylia White looking to build upon the strong doubles performance.
UWA dominated in the women’s singles with Tak's powerful groundstrokes playing an important role in the 6 -0 6-1 win over her opponent. Similarly, White produced a phenomenal performance, winning her singles rubber 6-0 6-0.
The men’s singles were tightly contested with Max Weir going down in a fierce battle against the top ranked player, Stefan Bianchet. The last match involved a gruelling tussle between Lucas Katsamakis and Gavin Zhang. A match filled with momentum swings; each player emptied the tank with the first set going to Zhang 6-4. Katsamakis fought hard to comeback and claim the second set 6-3 with long rallies and unpredictable play.
Unfortunately, the weather conditions plagued the remainder of the match which resulted in an overall draw. UWA Maali clinched 5 wins against The University of Adelaide resulting in an overall win to the home team.
UWA will finish as the top team in its region and will progress to the final series, to be played on Wednesday 21 & Thursday 22 August in Melbourne.
More information can be found on the UniSport Australia website.