Tennis
20 January, 2026
Wimmera players impress at inter-regional champs
The Wimmera regional tennis team produced plenty of strong performances at the inter-regional country championships, held at Wangaratta between January 2 and January 4, with the team finishing fifth overall.
Competing across several age groups, the Wimmera team reached the semi-finals in 15 singles or doubles events.
Eli Bailey and Sienna Wood successfully claimed the under 16 mixed doubles competition.
The duo defeated the second-seeded pair of Axel Potter-Ayres and Sofia Delgadinho in the round of 16 before winning the next two games to advance to the final.
In a hard-fought final, Bailey and Wood overcame the top-seeded pair of Jack Forde and Tess Bassett 8-6 to claim the win.
Among other results, Sienna Nitschke had an impressive championships as she made the final of both the under 14 girls' singles and under 14 girls' doubles.
Nitschke comfortably won her singles quarter-final and semi-final matchups before going down to top seed Amra Fleming 6-3 4-6 (10-6) in the final.
Nitschke and partner Daniella Gillespie progressed to the under 14 girls' double final before being defeated 8-2 by Skylar Austin and Amra Fleming.
In the final team standings, Wimmera finished fifth out of nine teams with 187 points.
Barwon took out the championships with 315 points, while Loddon Campaspe (294 points) and Goulburn finished second and third, respectively.
Wimmera regional tennis coordinator Brendan Nitschke said the team performed well against some of country Victoria’s best players.
“We finished fifth, which I believe is a good result with the team we had and the quality of competition,” Nitschke said.
‘We performed well for what we bring to the table with our tennis population.”
Nitschke praised numerous youngsters for playing out of their age groups in the open category.
“Three underage players in Harry Allan, Adele Joseph and Jordan Friberg all played open,” Nitschke said.
“Harry and Adele could have played in the under 16s while Jordan could have played in the under 25s.
“For those three to step up and play against the best players across country Victoria in the open age group, that’s a credit to them and pushing themselves to play the best tennis they can.”
Numerous youngsters also represented the Wimmera at the recent under 10 Wayne Arthurs Cup and under 12 Alicia Molik Cup, both held at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club between January 12 and January 14.
In the Wayne Arthurs Cup, the team of Ollie Brayshaw, Rafferty Shurdington, Elizabeth Fitzgerald and Zetta Beattie were winless in the group stage but played out a thrilling draw against Central Gippsland in their playoff match.
Maya Smith, Olivia Robertson, Des Coffey and Nicholas Gillespie represented Wimmera in the Alicia Molik Cup and defeated South West in their playoff match to finish 13th.