AARON Breust has started the summer with a bang after winning five of his seven singles matches at the Australian School Teams Challenge on the grass courts at Albury.
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The 16-year-old, who went through last year’s event unbeaten, has been a shining light as the No.l seed on an otherwise disappointing tournament for Albury High School’s boys team.
“I thought I’d win a couple but I never expected to win five,” Breust said yesterday.
“I haven’t been playing much. I’ve been busy with school and cricket.”
Breust, who has been playing cricket for Kiewa, is on the comeback trail after missing last summer with tennis elbow.
The big-hitting right-hander is eyeing several tournaments, including the Margaret Court Cup and the Victorian grass court titles at Wodonga.
“Last year I was injured so I couldn’t play but the year before I did all right so hopefully I can do all right again,” Breust said.
Nathan Scott, 16, Nick Brown, 14, Liam O’Neill, 14, and Matt Stensor, 14, are also in the Albury team, which finished 14th.
One team that caused an upset yesterday was Melbourne outfit Maribyrnong College, which beat last year’s winner Meriden White in Pool B of the girls section.
While coach Marc Sophoulis had high expectations, the school was without its best player, Monika Rajicic, ranked No.178 in Australia.
“We had pretty high expectations with the team we had,” Sophoulis said.
“We thought we were good enough and they have given themselves every chance to go forward.
“The average (Australian) ranking of the four girls is about 200 and then we’ve got a fifth girl who is not far behind and our sixth player, Peta Valos, she’s only in year 7 but she’s actually quite good so we brought her up here.”
The tournament finishes today, with Prince Alfred College and Marryatville High School to play in the boys final and Meriden Blue and Maribyrnong College to clash in the girls decider.
