KEY POINTS:
Winning the Auckland champs last Monday proved a good omen for Dianne Hollands and Adam Thompson as they added their first NZ Residentials singles tennis titles yesterday.
Hollands beat top seed Shona Lee in three sets after looking down and out at a set down and 0-2 in
the second. But Lee, 18, tightened up as 23-year-old Hollands worked her way back into the match. She looked to run away with the set but Lee showed resolve despite the climbing error rate from both players, who were in their first national senior final. Eventually Hollands prevailed 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Such success looked beyond her reach a year ago when she was hit hard by a thyroid illness, which kept her off the court for nearly a year.
She now wants to play professionally next year and will start with a qualifying wildcard at the ASB Classic in a fortnight. "I'm looking forward to going on the pro tour and aiming to get a good ranking, but not being too unrealistic. Mum and Dad will be sponsoring me for now," she said.
Hollands was embarrassed to admit it had been a dream to win a national title at this level, adding that she nearly didn't get that far. "I started off as a bit of shocker in the match today but hung in there in the end."
Meanwhile, Thompson was aiming to impress for a spot in the Davis Cup team in February and to improve on a loss to top seed and New Zealand No 1 Dan King-Turner in the final of the same event last year. Thompson started well, claiming the first set 6-4 after just one break of serve.
In the second, King-Turner, who has a world ranking of 468, came back with renewed vigour and more accuracy to take the set 6-2 and look on song to win his second consecutive national title. He didn't count on Thompson holding his nerve as the third seed went on to win a tiebreak 7-5 and take the third set 7-6.
"I thought I'd lost on a point at 5-3 and he hit a big serve," said Thompson. "I just knuckled down and backed myself. I tried to break down his forehand and stuck to my game plan."
Thompson and King-Turner will now build up to the Heineken Open. King-Turner has a main-draw wildcard. Thompson must qualify.