Replays: Tennis SA Junior State League grand finals live streamed by The Advertiser (State League Grand Finals )
SA’s tennis stars of the future have battled it out at Memorial Drive for the Junior State League titles. Watch the replays from the exclusive live stream here.
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Youngsters from SA’s top tennis clubs have square off to be crowned Junior State League champions in grand finals on Friday night.
Glenlea downed Athelstone met in the girls’ grand final while East Adelaide Payneham was too strong for Seaside in the boys’ decider.
Two singles matches and a doubles clash were broadcast in The Advertiser’s exclusive live stream of the event.
Scroll down to see the full match replays.
The men’s and women’s State League grand finals will follow from 3pm Saturday and will also be broadcast by The Advertiser.
WATCH THE BOYS DOUBLES MATCH REPLAY IN THE PLAYER ABOVE
WATCH THE SENIOR GRAND FINALS AT THIS LINK ON SATURDAY
GIRLS SINGLES: MIA TSOUKALAS (GLENLEA) 9 d DIANA BADALYAN (ATHELSTONE) 4
BOYS SINGLES: HEMANG GAUR (EAST ADELAIDE PAYNEHAM 9 d BILLY WILLIAMS (SEASIDE) 6
PREVIEW: RARE DOUBLE ON THE LINE FOR TENNIS YOUNG GUN
If everything goes to plan Mia Tsoukalas hopes to be celebrating twice as hard come Saturday night.
The Glenlea Tennis Club player is eyeing a rare double title when she takes to the court for the Gators in both the junior and senior State League grand finals.
But Tsoukalas, 17, is no stranger to the big stage having played in four consecutive women’s premiership teams – two summer and two winter – for Glenlea in recent seasons.
On Friday night she will lead Glenlea in the girls grand final against Athelstone before backing up in the women’s decider the next day to face Seacliff.
The Advertiser will exclusively live stream the junior grand finals from 6pm Friday, followed by the seniors from 3pm Saturday.
“I’m just so excited to get out there in the atmosphere, compete and hopefully bring us a win,” Tsoukalas said.
“(Playing both grades) has been difficult at times, coming off playing two matches on a Friday night and then backing up on a Saturday playing three-setters at times, but it’s also really rewarding.”
Tsoukalas believed Glenlea’s “fighting spirit” would be crucial in each of the grand finals and predicted they would come down to the wire.
“They’re both great teams, Athelstone and Seacliff, we’re confident but they’ve got some really good players and could come out and surprise us,” said Tsoukalas, an Immanuel College graduate who will leave for a six-month trip to Europe in May in the hope of improving her world junior ranking.
Athelstone lost to Glenlea in the semi-final but progressed to the big dance after a convincing preliminary final victory over Peake Gardens Riverside.
Rising 14-year-old Taylah Lessue said the return from Singapore of two of the side’s top players would give Athelstone a boost.
“It should be a tough match but we think we have what it takes to get across the line,” Lessue said.
“Playing at different levels this season has helped me, I feel I’ve risen to the level each time, so hopefully I can do that again.”
In the boys’ draw, East Adelaide Payneham has been the dominant club all season and will take on Seaside in the grand final.
EAP’s Hemang Gaur said a clean bill of health had allowed the team to have a dominant campaign.
“We’ve had our full team pretty much every single week and that’s made a huge difference,” Gaur, 17, said.
“I feel like our team chemistry is good, everyone really knows each other. We’ve been able to beat Seaside so far this season but now it’s about what you do on the day.”
Two singles matches and a doubles clash will be broadcast on The Advertiser website from the Sunken Show Court at Memorial Drive, beginning at 6pm on Friday.
It will be followed by the senior grand finals on Saturday where Glenlea take on Seacliff in the women’s and Tea Tree Gully do battle with Seaside in the men’s.
Those matches will be live streamed from 3pm Saturday.
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