Warrnambool came a provisional sixth in the national AO Blitz campaign, an online interactive competition in which participants earned points for their towns by completing fun challenges that involved tennis.

One of the local advocates for Warrnambool’s participation in the competition, Warrnambool Indoor Tennis Centre manager Rob Urquhart, said the city’s provisional sixth placing was likely to give it either the third-seeded men’s or women’s player in the tournament.

Under the early competition scores, the NSW town of Kendall won the competition, giving it the choice of being represented by either the top-seeded man or woman.

All other towns are allocated their player in a systematic order based on players’ rankings. 

Mr Urquhart said Warr-nambool’s sixth placing was a great effort in the competition that involved at least 256 towns across the nation. 

Warrnambool’s top performance will provide the city with excellent promotional opportunities.

Giant information screens around the Australian Open precinct in Melbourne and scheduling signage will feature players’ names, nationality and the Australian town they are “playing for”.

The link between players and towns will also be included in the Australian Open’s television broadcast. 

Points in the competition are presently being checked and the final town-player allocation will be announced on January 10.

Warrnambool had been sitting fourth earlier in the competition before a late rally by the small town of Biloela, in central Queensland, dropped the city to sixth place.