TODD Reid was yesterday crowned champion of the Victorian Grasscourt Championships after dominating last year’s winner Jade Culph 6-0 6-1.
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Reid, who was given a wildcard entry for the AMT event, was far too strong for Culph, despite everything the Albury-based player could throw at him.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played on grass, but I thought I played well all week,” Reid said.
The hard-hitting Reid, from Sydney, is a former professional player who won the Wimbledon boy’s title in 2002 and reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2004.
Reid retired from tennis in 2005 due to injury, and is only now starting to play tournaments again.
“It’s been about eight years since I last played on grass,” he said.
“It’s my favourite surface though — I really like the ball coming in flat and fast.”
Culph remained upbeat after the final, saying he was happy how he played over the past two weeks in both the Victorian Grasscourt Championships and the Margaret Court Cup.
“I was defending champion for both events, so I’m pretty happy to have made the final in both of them,” Culph said.
“I fell short, but the two guys who beat me (Reid and Brisbane’s Josh Barrenechea) played some terrific tennis and deserved to win.
“Todd played some exceptional tennis today, and he’s been building all week.
“He was just too good.
“Every time I was able to get the ball back into court he had me on the run from side to side, and he did that consistently.
“At the start of the second set I thought I was going to be able to sink my teeth into the match, but he just played the right shots at the right time.”
In the women’s AMT event, No. 1 seed Julia Moriarty lived up to her billing by defeating last year’s winner Alana Parnaby.
Moriarty held on to win 6-3 6-4 in a match that could have gone either way.
“I probably played my best match so far,” she said.
“I felt a lot more clean in my hitting and I was able to get more spin on the ball and more rewards for my shots.
“Alana had some really nice shots. I found her slice quite difficult to deal with when it was landing deep, but I just tried to keep playing my shots.
“It’s been a great tournament for me and I really hope to come back next year.”
