Aussies in hunt for titles at Ilkley

8:58pm Friday 3rd August 2007

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Wednesday may have been Yorkshire Day but tomorrow could well be Australia Day in the finals of the $15,000 Men's Futures and $10,000 Ladies' tournaments at Ilkley.

Second seed Adam Feeney has made it through to the men's final and fourth seed Jessica Moore has done likewise in the women's singles to raise hopes for a Down Under double.

Feeney, 22, defeated fellow Australian Andrew Coelho, seeded three, 7-6, (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) in today's semi-finals, while only the 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) victory of fourth seed Daniel King-Turner from New Zealand over top seed Robert Smeets prevented an all-Aussie men's decider.

The women were on a double shift today with 16-year-old Jessica Moore first defeating Kirsty Woolley 6-1, 6-2 in the quarter-finals before seeing off another Briton, fifth seed Julia Bone, 6-3, 6-2 to earn the right to face 21-year-old qualifier Lizaan Du Plessis (South Africa).

Du Plessis beat top seed Olivia Scarfi (Wales) 6-1, 6-2 in her quarter-final and sixth seed Alenka Hubacek (Aus-tralia) 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Earlier, Hubacek had defeated third seed Elizabeth Thomas (Britain) 7-5, 6-0 in the last eight, Bone squeezing through 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) against 14-year-old Hong Kong-born, Florida-based Briton Tara Moore.

Kyle Brassington's bid for a final berth in the men's doubles was equally tight.

The 20-year-old Ilkley member, partnering Jonathan Kinsella, went out 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to fellow unseeded pair King-Turner and Patrice Martin (France).

They will now face Ian Flanagan (Great Britain) and Brydan Klein (Australia).

However, local interest was maintained to the final day by Ilkley's Steven Hunt, seeded seventh, who defeated fourth seed Jamie Gibbor 6-3, 6-2 to reach the boys' 18 and under singles final.

Keeping him company is Heaton's Nicole Peterson, who beat Olivia Brown 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in a semi-final of the girls' 16 and under singles and will face Georgina Bastick in the decider.

Peterson, however, lost her semi-final of the girls' 18 and under singles after the sixth seed suffered a 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 setback against eighth seed April Kerr.

The final of the $10,000 Ladies' tournament and the Tropicana British Tour men's singles final will kick off the main events tomorrow at 11am, followed by the final of the $15,000 Men's Futures tournament and the boys' under-18 singles final (featuring Hunt) at 1pm.

Following that will be the men's doubles and ladies' doubles finals in the ITF world-ranking events.