TOTALLY Tennis brother and sister Liam and Isla Hignett both came away with trophies from the Grade 4 Bradfield Junior Winter Open 2013 Tournament at Bradfield Tennis Club.
Competing in the 10-and-under girls singles, Isla played good, confident tennis to win her semi-final against Lauren Paris-Jones 4-0, 4-0, after she received a bye in the first round.
In the final, she beat Alice Hodges convincingly 4-0, 4-0 and was presented with her first winner’s trophy, having only received medals in previous tournaments.
Older brother Liam played in the 14-and-under boys singles event and, after also receiving a bye in the first round, he beat Edwin Lau 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals followed by a victory over Ethan Chow, 6-1, 7-5 in their semi-final encounter.
In the final, things did not go quite so smoothly with a three set battle against Oliver Okonkwo. Liam lost the first set 6-4, fought back to win the second 7-5, but lost out in the third set tie-break 10-7, to finish runner-up.
Fellow performance player Kirsty Da Silva also competed in the Bradfield event, playing in the eight-and-under mixed singles.
She progressed to the main draw after winning all her round robin stages matches in Group A.
There she defeated Steffi Swanson 13-11, Tom Harris 10-7, Arron Hodges 10-5 and Thomas Silvester Ratcliffe 10-4.
In the semi-final, Da Silva lost to Thomas Silvester Ratcliffe 10-7 and finished fourth after Daniel Mackley won their third/fourth play-off match 10-5.
Head coach James McIntosh said: “Isla played really well to win her event and claim the first of, I am sure, many trophies.
“It was a sterling effort from Liam and Kirsty too in their events, with lots of good match wins.”
He added: “Competing in external competitions is an important part of a player’s growth and development. These three players are always motivated to compete in lots of tournaments, with great results.”
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