For the first time in its 79 year history, the Deniliquin Lawn Tennis Club was unable to host the Western Riverina Tennis Championships this year.
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The annual Easter event was supposed to be played from Friday, April 10 to Monday, April 13, before it was called off due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
With no tournament to report on this year, the Pastoral Times will re-visit the past decade of the annual event.
2010
In 2010 local tennis players Dean Irwin and Joel Smith retained their stranglehold on the Western Riverina Tennis Championships Men’s Open Doubles.
It was the pair’s fourth consecutive doubles title, their sixth win over a nine year span.
Irwin and Smith defeated Mark Nolan and Rob McCrae 6-2, 7-5 in the final.
Deniliquin teenager Miranda Poile also had a strong showing finishing as A grade ladies and Mixed Doubles Open winner.
Other local winners included the team of Annie Bulmer and Lourene Liebenberg winning the B grade doubles, Barry Barlow teamed with Billy Betts to win veteran men’s doubles, Deni juniors Lucy Seale and Georgia Denny won Under 14 girls doubles and Jacob Bulmer and Kai Romanin won Under 12 boys doubles.
Royal Park’s Matt Gregory claimed back to back titles in the Men’s Open Championship, while Bonnie Pearson finished as Ladies Open winner.
2011
It was a big year for the tournament celebrating its 70th year and welcoming more than 200 players to the DLTC courts.
Players lined up for 30 events and the continued use of the lawn surface over three days saw the courts dry out and gain speed and bounce, making for exciting tennis.
There were no local winners recorded, with Irwin and Smith deciding to sit out the 2011 tournament.
Melbourne-based Mitch Bengough was the winner of the coveted Men’s Open Championship, defeating John Zahra in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Results in other events were unfortunately not recorded.
2012
Irwin and Smith regained the Men’s Open Doubles in 2012. Impressively, it was their seventh win since 2001, having been runners-up on four other occasions.
The dynamic duo beat local Barry Barlow and Melbourne’s Paul Luke 6-3, 6-2 in the final
Local player Lourene Liebenberg tasted individual success, winning the C grade ladies singles.
Liebenberg played in three preliminary rounds before defeating Alisse Balic of the Delahey Tennis Club 8/3 in the grand final.
Smith also had a crack at the Open Singles title but was eliminated 6-2, 6-3 in the semi-final by Rob McRae from the Royal Park Tennis Club.
McRae, who won the A grade singles title, played off in the Open final but was eventually defeated 6-2, 6-3 by fellow Royal Park member Paul Luke.
Unfortunately there was no Ladies Open winner recorded.
2013
A new local champion was crowned in the Men’s Open Doubles with Barry Barlow partnering with Melbourne’s Paul Luke to take out the title.
The dynamic duo bounced back after losing the previous year’s grand final to Irwin and Smith.
Irwin and Smith’s reign came to a halt with a first round elimination at the hands of Rob McRae and 13 year-old star Todd Millington.
The Men’s Open Singles event was a fizzer when Millington withdrew from the tournament before playing the grand final.
The Melbourne player progressed through to the final after a convincing win in the semis, but couldn’t wait around to play as he had to head off to Brisbane.
With Paul Luke beating Smith 7-5, 6-1 in the other semi final, he was declared the Open Champion for the second year in a row.
In other results, former local Michael Stubley returned to his home town to take out the C grade men’s championship, while Bill Beehag also returned to play in the mixed A grade doubles with his mother, Renee. They finished runner-up after going down in the grand final.
Unfortunately there was no Ladies Open title winner recorded.
2014
Irwin and Smith bounced back from their early exit in the previous tournament to win their way to another Men’s Open Doubles final.
But the pair were unable to claim an eighth title win, defeated 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the decider by Hayden Fricke and David Newstead.
The tournament also saw father-daughter combo Barry and Gabby Barlow finish as runners-up in mixed doubles open, beaten 6-1, 7-5 by Melanie Lasslett and Mitch Benstead in the final.
After finishing as runner-up in previous years, John Zahra claimed the Men’s Open title, with the Ladies Open winner not recorded.
2015
There were no local winners in 2015, with Todd Millington returning to claim the Men’s Open Singles title, defeating reigning champion John Zahra in three sets, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-1.
Ladies Open Singles winner was Mia Heffernan, who defeated Melanie Lasslett 6-1, 6-3; mother-daughter combination Jenny and Bonnie Pearson defeated Deidre Bilne and Lasslett in the Ladies
Doubles, with Hayden Fricke and David Newstead taking out the Men’s Doubles for a second consecutive year.
2016
The local juniors shone brightly in 2016 with Deniliquin’s Eloise Ritchie taking out the Under 14 Girls’ Singles.
She then combined with Eimear Gogarty to claim the U14 Girls’ Doubles against India Hicks and Grace McCallum in an all-Deni final.
The U14 Boys’ Doubles saw Deni’s Tom Cochrane combine with H Cameron in victory.
Mitch Benstead claimed his first Men’s Open Singles crown, defeating 2015 runner-up John Zahra in a three set final.
Benstead, who has won numerous junior crowns at the event, lost the first set 3-6 but fought back to claim the next two, 7-5, 7-5.
In the Open Ladies Singles, Berrigan young gun Imogen Cameron defeated Melanie Lasslett in two sets, 7-6, 6-0.
Jenny and Bonnie Pearson again won the Ladies Doubles, with Mark Nolan and Rob McRae taking out the Men’s Double.
2017
Ned Whittaker (Kooyong) claimed his first Men’s Open Singles crown, defeating former winner Hayden Fricke (Dendy Park) when the latter retired injured after the second set.
Scores were one set all - 6/3, 5/7 - before Fricke hurt his calf muscle in the first game of the third set.
In the Open Ladies’ singles final it was multiple winner Bonnie Pearson defeating Melanie Lasslett, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 in the final.
Pearson went on to claim another Ladies Doubles title with her mother Jenny and the Mixed Doubles with Mark Nolan.
Young guns Lachlan Hart and Mitch Benstead were the winners of the Men’s Open doubles defeating experienced Deniliquin pair Mark Ritchie and Dean Irwin, 6-2, 6-3.
Deniliquin player Lachy Campbell teamed with Graeme Kentish to take out the B grade Men’s Doubles over ex-local Dominic Moore and Will Edge, 6-4.
Locals Libby Henderson and Pip Metcalfe also took out the C grade ladies’ doubles.
2018
Ned Whittaker went back-to-back in the Men’s Open Singles posting a 6-1, 7-6 win against Mitch Benstead in the final.
Bonnie Pearson returned to also claim back-to-back titles in the Ladies Open Singles against Monica Ki, pairing with her mother Jenny to win the Open Ladies Doubles Championship for a third year in a row and teaming with Mark Nolan to win the Open Mixed Doubles for a second year in a row.
Deniliquin Tennis Club members Annie Bulmer and Lourene Liebenberg teamed together to win the B grade round robin.
Local father-son combination Harley and Eric Moore won the B grade Men’s Doubles, while in the U16 Girls’ event local Eimear Gogarty was defeated 8-7 in the final by Eliza Knowles.
Ex-local Jemima Middleton returned to town from Tumbarumba and won the C Grade Ladies Singles.
2019
Andre Mick lived up to pre-tournament hype, winning the Men’s Open Singles and Doubles as well as the Mixed Doubles titles.
Mick won the singles title defeating John Zahra in two tight sets and in the doubles he teamed with former Deniliquin local Vincent Ho to defeat Mitch Benstead and Hayden Fricke 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in a match lasting near three hours.
The mixed doubles saw Mick teaming with Sam Laslett to defeat Mel Lasslett and Benstead.
The Open Ladies singles saw Bonnie Pearson completing the three-peat, beating Mel Lasslett 6-2, 6-2. Laslett had some revenge in the Open Doubles teaming with her sister Sam to defeat Pearson and her mother Jenny.
Flying the flag for the locals were Lourene Liebenberg and Annie Bulmer winning the veterans doubles.
Other local results saw Barry Barlow and Dean Irwin finish as runners-up in the veterans doubles; Lourene Liebenberg runner-up in the B Grade singles and Charlie Dudley and Eloise Ritchie winning the C Grade mixed doubles.
Others with a Deniliquin connection were Sienna Ho, winning the U14 girls singles, and Jensen Ho, who at nine years of age was the runner up in the U14 boys singles.