Wilson keeps Aussie tennis dreams alive

IF Australian tennis is looking for a new flagbearer in the wake of Lleyton Hewitt’s unfortunate first round exit at Wimbledon earlier in the week, they could do much, much worse than turn to Kathryn Wilson.

While Aussie dreams of a successful Hewitt defence of his title on the grass of the All-England Club hit the dust on Monday, Wilson was busy working her way into the top grade of competition on the indoor hard-courts of the David Lloyd Riverview Centre, deep in the heart of Dublin 4.

And yesterday, with the divisioning completed and everyone in the Special Olympics tennis competition slotted into the draw at the appropriate level, Wilson set about restoring Aussie pride after a bruising week on the sporting circuit.

The Queenslander from Brisbane was made to work hard, though, with her Georgian opponent Katerina Vepkhadze pushing her all the way in a keenly-fought contest on Riverview’s equivalent of Centre Court.

In front of a large crowd at the Clonskeagh venue, the two women slugged it out over the first eight games of the one-set match before the Australian held her serve to win 6-3.

Both players showed they had the armoury of shots to match their top ranking, Wilson swiping a passing shot beyond the Georgian to win the second game on her serve, Vepkhadze responding in the third with a rocket of an ace.

The Aussie, though was nothing if not gutsy and she clawed her way back into that game with a series of shots combining subtlety and power to great effect before nailing the first break of the match and going 2-1 in front. That soon became 3-1 and Wilson looked set to coast to victory, only for Vepkhadze to stage her own comeback, breaking serve and then holding her own, to draw level at 3-3.

This was shaping into a titanic struggle and Wilson was the next to hold the ascendancy, mirroring Vepkhadze by breaking and then winning on her own serve to go 5-3 in front.

It was fitting that the final game should be the best with Vepkhadze battling to stay in contention and her opponent striving to hold her nerve as well as her service.

The latter seized the day, and the match, at the end of an epic rally during which both players stretched each other to the limit. It earned them both a standing ovation as Wilson celebrated with understandable gusto before sportingly embracing her opponent.

“It was a very tough match,” Kathryn admitted afterwards, “I started playing when I was 16 and I’m 30 now and this is my second Special Olympics. That was my toughest so far. She was very good.

“I haven’t managed to watch Wimbledon yet but I know Lleyton lost so I’m probably flying the flag now.”

Australia’s head tennis coach Greg Gibson was equally pleased with Wilson’s performance.

“Gutsy would be a very good word for her performance. She’s very serious about what she does. She wanted it and you could tell, she’s still shaking.”