LISTON Seagulls might have bullied their way through the Victorian conference and into the Asia-Pacific Tennis League decider, but the final against ATP Sydney at Melbourne Park on Thursday was a far different kettle of fish.
The Seagulls survived a thrilling tie against the interstate visitors to win four rubbers to two, but not without a scare or two along the way.
“ATP rankings-wise, Sydney, and even Brisbane in the semi finals, basically matched up to ours,” Seagulls coach Dane Nebel told the Weekly. “They’re great teams and are more or less in the same ball park.”
There can be no dispute that the Seagulls rule the Asia-Pacific in teams tennis. The tiny club in the seaside town of Williamstown has put western suburbs tennis on the map.
The final was as tense as it comes on a tennis court. Nebel felt it was on the big points that his men shone through.
“The nature of this competition is that it comes down to a point here or there,” he said. “Our guys came up with them all the time.”
Sam Groth was as close as it came to a bankable win for the Seagulls.
Groth, who troubled all and sundry with a serve that hit 263kp/h on a radar gun in Berlin a year ago, went through the tournament undefeated. He saw off Adam Feeney 4-2 4-3 in straight sets.
On an adjacent court, Rubin Statham made a flying start to take the first set over big serving Matthew Barton, but Barton hit back to win the match 3-4 4-2 4-3 for Sydney and level the tie at 1-1.
Perhaps the most telling rubber was the arm wrestle between Matt Reid and Greg Jones. Reid took the opening set for the Gulls, but Jones reeled off six straight games to have all the momentum in the third and deciding set.
In that time, Reid was hit with a code violation, following an umpire’s overrule that had happened earlier in the match. “Matt just lost it, he went nuts. It was only the first point of a game, he got a bad call and needed to get on with it, but he didn’t,” Nebel said.
“Every change of ends he was still talking about it and it took a whole set for him to settle down.”
Reid, staring a 3-1 deficit in the face in the third, somehow came from behind to win, leaving a frustrated Jones to receive his own violation for deliberately hitting the ball into the next court after losing a point.
“I still don’t know how we got out of that one,” Nebel said. “That was the turning point for sure.”
James Lemke overcame a fiery Nick Lindahl 4-3 4-3 in straight sets to give the Seagulls a 3-1 lead.
It meant the Gulls needed only to take a single set in one of the two remaining doubles encounters to be crowned champions.
That was achieved with Lemke-Statham’s 4-2 4-3 win over Feeney-Ryan Henry.
Groth-Reid went down 1-4 4-1 10-6 to Barton-Jones, but that was purely academic.
“The way it turned out, I feel as though we had the best player in the league at every number,” Nebel said.
“To come out with comprehensive wins against those [ATL] teams is a credit to the guys.
“It’s a great effort.”
ATL RESULTS:
Quarter-final: Liston Seagulls 4-8-35 d Kooyong Classics 0-1-16
Semi-final: Liston Seagulls 5-10-44 d Tennis Brisbane Chargers 1-4-35
Final: Liston Seagulls 4-10-46 d ATP Sydney 2-4-41
CLICK HERE FOR RELATED COVERAGE: In ‘perfect team’, camaraderie the key for Liston Seagulls coach
