Victorian Ava Beck stunned top-seeded South Australian Diana Badalyan in the girls’ singles semifinals at the December Showdown today.
Melbourne, Australia, 9 December 2022 | Darren Parkin
Some of Australia’s finest young talent has been on display at the December Showdown at Melbourne Park this week.
Ava Beck continued her outstanding run in the 14/u Australian Invitational Masters, scoring a come-from-behind win over top seed Diana Badalyan in the girls’ singles semifinals.
The 14-year-old Victorian dropped the first set, controlled the second and raced to a 4-0 lead in the third.
Badalyan showed her class to fight back, but Beck eventually prevailed 2-6 6-2 6-4 in two hours and 12 minutes.
“I struggled at the start, but when she took a medical timeout at the end of the first set it really gave me a chance to just focus in and think only about the second set,” Beck said.
“I knew that Diana would come back at the end, so I just took a heap of deep breaths and tried to ignore everything else.”
Her final opponent is Western Australia’s Sara Nikolic, who reeled off eight consecutive games to win 6-4 6-0 in her semifinal against New South Wales’ Natalie Gaft.
> View draws and results from the 14/u Australian Invitational Masters
Daniel Jovanovski is having a week to remember, progressing to finals across three events.
The 14-year-old Victorian moved into the boys’ singles final today via a 6-2 6-3 win over top seed Cooper Kose.
Jovanovski then returned later in the day to claim the mixed doubles title alongside Badalyan.
The top-seeded duo defeated New South Wales’ Chen Liang and Victorian Eva Trinity Crawford 6-4 6-1 in the final.
Jovanovski, who has also qualified for the boys’ doubles final, now turns his attention to a showdown with Nemanja Savic in tomorrow’s boys’ singles decider.
Savic played fantastic to score a 6-2 7-5 victory against second seed Cameron Burton in semifinal action today.
Savic’s emotion on the final point was evidence of what this moment means.
“I’m very excited, I’ve never been into a nationals final before,” said Savic. “You have to stay mentally strong against a good player like Cam and I love that this tournament teaches you that you can’t fall off at all.
“It’s so different to normal tournaments because it’s tougher physically and mentally.”
Savic finished with a clear message: “All I know is I’m ready to win.”
14/u Australian…
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