Gallipoli Youth Cup triumphs for Nolan, Cveticanin

Melbourne VIC, Australia, 27 April 2015 | Tennis Australia

Daniel Nolan (Middle Park, Vic) and Aleksa Cveticanin (Wishart, Qld) won the boys’ and girls’ crowns on Sunday at the eighth annual Gallipoli Youth Cup held at Melbourne Park.

Top seed Nolan defeated sixth seed Damon Kesaris from South Africa, fighting back from a first set loss to win 4-6 6-3 6-0.

The victory is the 18-year-old’s second ITF junior Grade 4 tournament title win in two weeks after he took out the Victorian Junior Claycourt International at Royal Park Tennis Club the week before last.

In the girls’ event, 15-year-old Cveticanin defeated Watsachol Sawasdee from Thailand 6-3 6-4 to take the title.

Cveticanin had a relatively smooth run to the finals, not dropping a set before being pushed to three sets in the semifinals by Brooke Winley (Dapto, NSW).

This was Cveticanin’s first ITF junior title win.

The event was moved to Melbourne Park’s indoor hard courts due to the weekend’s inclement weather.

In the doubles finals, fourth seeds Lucas Vuradin (Sydenham, Vic) and Charles Roberts (THA) defeated unseeded pair Omar Fields (Noble Park North, Vic) and Long Nguyen (Oakleigh South, Vic) 6-0 3-6 [11-9], while top seeds Gabriella Da Silva Fick (Sydney, NSW) and Nicole Kraemer (Hallett Cove, SA) defeated third seeds Jessica Brzozowska (Brighton, Vic) and Selina Turulja (Pennington , SA) 6-4 6-1 to win the girls’ doubles title.

In 2015, more than 120 local and international players competed in the Gallipoli Youth Cup, while almost 1000 students from Victorian schools visited Melbourne Park as part of the tournament’s School Commemoration Program.