Border tennis star Jade Culph started the Margaret Court Cup open men’s singles in impressive fashion with two convincing victories at the Albury grasscourts on Sunday.
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Culph made light work of Victorian Max Potter, 6-0, 6-2, in the opening round in tricky conditions, before following it up with a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of 16th seed James Hartson, of Melbourne.
After tasting ultimate success in 2012 and 2013 and narrowly missing out on a hat trick of men’s singles crowns in 2014, Culph would love nothing more than to lift the trophy for a third time in 2019.
“It was much better in the afternoon that’s for sure,” he said.
“The morning wasn’t too bad, but conditions were a lot quicker with the weather and I felt a lot better in the second match.
“I probably played a lot better and served better, it was much better quality performance overall.
“It’s always an enjoyable tournament this time of year, it’s one of the biggest ones in the country and it’s always a joy to play at home.”
Despite not playing full-time on the Australian tournament circuit, Culph admits his knowledge and experience of playing on grass at Albury gives him plenty of confidence.
“I’ve learned to play on the grass from a young age being from around here, so it definitely helps out there,” he added.
Culph will face either Taj Hibbert or Enzo Aguiard in the third round on Monday.
Related:
A number of Margaret Court Academy products have been performing well on their home courts.
Ella Brown kicked-off her day in style with a 6-2, 6-2, triumph against 10th seed Sophie McDonald in the under-14 girls singles.
However, her run came to an end with a hard-fought 6-2, 6-4 defeat against top seed Isabella Markovski.
Fellow state representative Rory Carlyle also showed plenty of positives in the under-12 boys singles.
His straight-sets result against Elian Lopez set him up for a clash with top seed Caspian Tuckwell, who eventually got the better of him, 6-4, 6-2, to move to the quarter-finals.
Tuckwell went on to defeat Sam Simmonds, 6-0, 6-1, to reach the semis.
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