District tennis stars Isabella Crossman and Josh Bavich walked away with titles at the Bendigo Fosterville Gold Junior and Open Zone Series at the weekend.
Crossman continued her impressive run of form with the racquet, adding another open title to her resume in less than a week.
After claiming the Swan Hill Region Mildura Health Fund Open and Junior Event Women’s Singles title last week, the 15-year-old tasted victory at Bendigo, again in the open women’s singles.
In an echo of her performance in Swan Hill, Crossman, the No. 1 seed at the event, breezed through the tournament at the Bendigo Regional Tennis Centre without dropping a set.
In the final, Crossman faced third-seed Caitlin Baker, and ran away with the title in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
For Bavich, his path to the title wasn’t so simple.
Despite winning in straight sets over Jake Bucek (6-4, 6-2) and Dylan Hubert-Vaughan in the quarter-finals (6-4, 6-3), Bavich, the division’s third seed, was tested in the final two games, with both the semi-final and grand final going to a tie-breaking set.
Bavich conceded the first set to Nicholas Espositos in the semi-final 2-6, before reversing that scoreline in the second set to level the match, navigating the final set 10-3 to book a final against Matthieu Gibert.
Bavich was again off to a slow start, conceding the first set 1-6.
But the young Rich River tennis player lifted in the second, snatching back momentum in a 7-5 win.
In a thrilling tie-break set, Bavich held his nerve to stave off Gibert and win the set 10-8 and the title in a contest that eclipsed the two-hour mark.