WARRNAMBOOL tennis ace Patrick Drake credits net play for his second Victorian junior tournament win in a month.
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Drake scored a straight sets victory in the Bendigo International Pro Tour Junior Tournament under 16 boys’ singles final on Tuesday.
The number three seed swept past number nine seed Andy Caruana 6-3, 6-2.
His success follows his breakthrough victory at an Altona-based silver-ranked junior tournament in October.
“It’s a great feeling to be able to back it up and it’s good to see some consistency,” Drake said.
Drake, who didn’t drop a set across his four matches, said he was pleased with his efforts on the Bendigo hard courts.
“I think what got me over the line was I tried to go to the net and put pressure on a bit,” he said.
“It paid off. I was able to get a lot of free points off my serve. I got a lot of first serves in so that set me up.”
The Warrnambool College student also featured in the AMT open men’s draw in Bendigo, winning his first match before falling to the number one seed Michael David Shepheard.
He pushed him to 6-4, 6-4.
“I was stoked with that, to be able to match the number one seed,” Drake said.
Drake said working closely with his coach of three years, Warrnambool-based Matt Moloney, had helped advance his skillset.
“We’re doing game situation stuff, setting up the points and set plays, like serve it and hit a forehand down the line,” he said.
Hawkesdale teenager Eloise Swarbrick also competed in Bendigo.
The number one seed lost the under 16 girls’ single final to number four seed Elena Micic 6-2, 6-4.