In the female division, Kate Campbell still looks the one to beat. Her hard hitting and power has been too much for all other opponents so far again this year. Campbell is in the unique position of being undefeated since the Women’s Benalla Championship was added in 2024.
The unstoppable force that Campbell has been may, however, face her greatest test later this Autumn with Swanpool’s Peta Kelly and Benalla youngster Meg Cooke using every match to build a game that can seriously challenge Campbell’s dominance.
Cooke took a huge scalp late last week with a mature win over Kelly, in a high standard match. The win means the youngster Cooke looks like she might be set to qualify second after the ladies pool matches, meaning she may advance to a semi final against a yet to determined third place qualifier and avoid playing the defending champ, Campbell, until a potential final.
American-local, Mary Thornton, is playing some of her best tennis also despite only recently returning to competitive tennis. Thornton is currently best placed to round out the top four females who look most likely to qualify through to the knock-out semi final phases over the next seven days. In fact, Thornton’s match against Giulia Franceschi at 5:30pm this Wednesday, March 11 at Gardens Tennis Club will decide the final semi-finals qualifier, with the winner of that match to progress through and qualify in the fourth position for a likely tough semi against the undefeated Campbell.
In the Men’s Tennis Championships, where the standard is as high as, if not even higher, than the 2023 group, where players like Matt Crittenden, Michael Levy and the French Dormeuil brothers went through to the Open semi’s, finals are fast approaching.
12 possible winners have already been whittled down to just seven, with the six week play-off having already lost several starters. Local Devenish tennis champion and this year’s most experienced entry, Ron Evans, was first lost to injury. Argentinian pair Javier Kisielus and Gonzalo Quinones both impressed all tournament, but last week completed their solar farm contracts and both have already starting making their way back to their homes overseas, leaving Benalla.
Tennis coach, Pat Neilson, was also forced to pull out of his remaining matches due to work commitments. Before the tournament even got underway a significant shoulder injury meant that last year’s biggest surprise packet and definitely most unique and improved competitor, Librarian Ramey Hengen, pulled out before the draws were done.
Only four out of the seven remaining talented players can qualify into the 2026 Open Men’s final division, with the three lowest qualifiers splitting off to this years Men’s Plate playoffs. The top four will be made up from a field that includes previous Benalla Champions, Mark Beers and Michael Levy, up-and-comer local juniors Lucas Hales and Joe Boyd, the ever improving and often under rated local Richard Seccull and this year’s highly talented international pairing of Lucas Ruiz and Tomas Azar from Argentina.
It currently looks that either Hales or Boyd will have to play above the age or Seccull play out of his skin to upset the top four other more experienced players at the top of their respective pools.
Beers, a champion player, currently sits on top of Pool 1, with Ruiz, showing he is almost at Beers’ level, looking to consolidate the second qualifying spot, after pushing Beers all the way. In Pool 2, Levy and Azar both look most likely to advance to the Open finals.
Azar and Levy played one of the tournament’s longest and highest standard matches since the Championships began over the past week. A healthy crowd witnessed a match which ended with the full three sets having to be completed over two separate nights, four days apart, after the match couldn't be completed on night one when both players succumbed to cramps and fatigue in the humidity.
Night one saw two and half hours of gruelling tennis. With the score only at one set each, 6-2 Levy, 4- 6 Azar, the sweat-drenched pair agreed to postpone a decider, ultimately returning on Monday at twilight to decide a winner. The final set, in front of a superb little crowd certainly didn’t disappoint.
The match was the Championships’ longest ever match, completed in a third set tug-of-war which took a further 80 minutes. The experienced Australian only took victory over the Argentinian in the final few points in a set that had everything and could have easily gone to either player, decided 7-6 (8-6).
Levy looked relieved post match, relieved that he had somehow won, but perhaps even more relieved with the knowledge that the tournament draw now means the pair can only meet again if they both qualify through on opposite semi finals side to the Open Final and the number one play off.
