Geelong Lawn Tennis Club Premier League teams showed that they are genuine contenders for finals success during the "double-header" weekend on 23rd & 24th October. The Womens team had strong wins over finals favourites Kooyong LTC and Royal South Yarra LTC, only losing two rubbers in each match. Alenka Hubacek and Olivia Rich dominated their rivals, with the only blemish Alenka's straight sets singles loss to RYSLTC's Jessica Engels. The team now approaches the last match against Dendy Park with confidence, knowing that a good result will guarantee a place in the grand final, surely an enticing prospect for a team that has played better each match.
Meanwhile the Men struggled against an inspired MCC, who knew a win would keep their finals chances alive. A groin strain to Mark Shanahan meant he had to forfeit the third set of his singles, leading to a 6-3 loss to MCC. Grace Park started the match on Sunday slowly, losing two out of three doubles, but levelled the day at four rubbers all, when Jimmy Dougherty defeated Justin Robinson in straight sets. 15 year old youngster Jacob Grills, filling in for the injured Shanahan faced the biggest occasion of his short tennis career, when he had to win the deciding match to take the team to victory and a place in the preliminary final. In a see sawing encounter, Jacob showed remarkable poise under pressure to take a 5-2 lead in the third set, and fight off a resurgent Grace Park opponent, before snatching victory 7-5 in the final set. The stakes will be high in an away finals match against Kooyong LTC on the 7th November, who will be hoping the home court advantage gives them an edge.
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