Lachlan Finnerty finished runner-up in his age group, as he was among a group of youngsters from Gunnedah Tennis Club to compete in the NSW Champion of Champions event from last Friday to Sunday.
Lachlan and fellow Gunnedah player Harry Tudgey competed in Penrith while Adalie Muddle, Molly Murphy, Millie Lyle, Charli Scott, Daisy Baker and Maggie Gardner competed in Springwood.
Some of the play-off matches at Springwood were suspended or shortened to one set due to wet weather while another Gunnedah competitor, Belle Nichols, was unable to take part due to illness.
Lachlan topped his group in the U10 boys, and won his quarter-final 6-2 6-2 before winning his semi-final 6-2 6-4 against a tough competitor.
Lachlan’s opponent in the final was Cristian Carbone from the South East. Cristian was the number one seed, and the top ranked U10 player in the state.
The Gunnedah-based player dropped the first set rather quickly amid some nerves, but he fought with all he had in the second before going down gallantly in a tiebreaker.
The final score was 6-0 7-6 (4), but Lachlan nevertheless realised finishing second at state was a huge achievement.
Harry won his quarter-final in the U12 boys, before going down 6-2 6-3 in his semi-final. He then played a shortened format in the third/fourth play-off, winning 6-3.
Adalie had her 21st to 24th play-off matches suspended in the U12 girls, while Molly had her 11th/12th play-off matches suspended in the U14 girls.
Millie, Charli, Daisy and Maggie competed in the U10 girls, with Millie having the highest placing among the foursome.
Millie reached the quarter-finals before going down 6-2 6-1 to the number one seed, and then her play-off matches for fifth to eighth position were suspended due to the weather.
Charli placed second in her pool and won her next two play-off matches, followed by a 7-5 win in the battle of ninth and tenth. Ninth was a worthy placing, with Charli still having another year of U10s ahead of her.
Daisy had her 11th/12th play-off matches suspended, while Maggie had her 13th to 16th play-off matches suspended.