GEELONG’S Matthew Hicks took four hours to shake off Jade Culph in an epic Victorian Grasscourt Championships open men’s singles final at Wodonga Tennis Centre yesterday.
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In a marathon decider, Hicks emerged triumphant 7-6 5-7 6-3 after a series of momentum shifts.
The loss came only hours after Culph and Mark Shanahan went down to Jonathan Bejar and Blazo Djurovic 6-4 7-6 in a long doubles semi-final.
Culph was upbeat despite the loss.
“It was really tight with a lot of long games,” he said.
“It was a weird match because I felt I was on top at stages but was always behind on the scoreboard with Matthew serving first.
“I could never pull away.
“It’s tough losing but he’s probably been one of the best players to come out of Geelong for a decade and I wasn’t far off winning.”
Hicks brought down Margaret Court Cup winner Ryan Agar 6-3 6-3 on Saturday.
Culph will now turn his attention to the Australia Day tournament at Wagga, where he will play singles and partner Yarrawonga youngster Harley McCarthy in the doubles.
“I have felt my form has got better and better over the past fortnight so hopefully I can keep it going,” he said.
Albury’s Rory Parnell followed up his Margaret Court Cup success with a 6-4 win over Stami Arthur in the 10-and-under boys singles final.
He had earlier survived a huge challenge from Hiro Sakamoto 7-5 in his semi-final.
In the 12-and-under girls, Albury’s Charlie Hargreaves lost to Kyoka Kubo 6-3 6-1 in the decider.
Hargreaves enjoyed another strong week and took another big step forward after losing in the semi-finals at the Margaret Court Cup.