Hot on the heels of winning a second consecutive Open Doubles Championship at the annual Red Cliff Tennis Tournament last month, local tennis duo Nathan Crabb and Patrick Reincke have tasted more success in Ouyen.
The pair ventured to the small Victorian town, about an hour south of Mildura, in an attempt to defend their 2023 Open Doubles championship win.
The yearly Ouyen Labour Day Tournament attracts players from across the state and several from South Australia and New South Wales. Weather conditions were stifling across both the Saturday and Sunday events, with organisers taking steps to help players beat the heat.
“It’s a great event to be a part of and the organisers put in a tremendous amount of work,” Reincke told the Barrier Truth.
“They made a couple of changes to the gameplay rules to help everyone not stay on court too long. From the juniors to the veterans, it was terrific to see all the players not succumb to the sun.”
Saturday saw Crabb and Reincke throw their hats in the ring for the Singles. Conditions were challenging as temperatures edged past 40 degrees and strong end-to-end winds hammered the venue.
Crabb lost his first singles match to Ned Nihill 8-3, seeing him placed in the A-Grade bracket. Reincke managed to defeat Liam Galbraith 8-7, claiming a tiebreaker win to go up into Open.
Reincke met returning champion Josh Gregg in his next match which was the best of three sets. Gregg was far too strong for Reincke, winning 6-1, 6-0. He would later go on to win tournament for another year running.
Meanwhile, Crabb also suffered an early exit from the Singles, going down to Alex Bakogianis 8-4.
The pair licked their wounds and returned on the Sunday for Doubles. The heat still stuck around but the wind died, making for some very exciting tennis across the day.
Crabb and Reincke faced Keith Meagher and Richard Wardle in their qualifying match. Defence of their Championship was off to a good start as they bested Meagher and Wardle 8-5 to stay in the Open.
With five doubles pairings in the Open grade, three were sent straight through to the semi-finals while the remaining two played a quarter final. Crabb and Reincke met top seeds Sam McKenzie and Riley Thompson in their semi in what was a topsy-turvy close call for the Broken Hill pair.
They were 5-2 down in the opening set before managing to rally back and force a tiebreaker at five-all – the set was shortened due to heat. The tiebreaker fell the way of the Silver City representatives but their momentum was quickly quashed.
McKenzie and Thompson powered back into the game to completely shut out Crabb and Reincke from the second set and claim it 6-0 to force a final set super tiebreaker (first to 10).
At seven-all, Crabb and Reincke won three crucial points in a row to clench victory and progress to the final.
The day grew late and the sun began to set as all finals were hosted on Showcourt 1.
Under lights, Crabb and Reincke hit the court against Shepparton lads Ned and Joe Nihill. Across the final, Crabb and Reincke’s service games proved inaccessible for their opponents with just the one break point opportunity given away to no conversion.
Ned and Joe Nihill focused their serves down the middle ‘T’ for the majority of the match, hoping to avoid Crabb’s precision backhand and Reincke’s damaging forehands. The tactic worked well, but Crabb and Reincke were able to break Ned Nihill’s serve to take the opening set 6-3.
The pair did not let up in the second set, keeping up the fight against the Shepparton duo. Again, it was only the one break of serve for the set as Crabb and Reincke changed ends with a 5-4 lead. Reincke held his nerve and served out the game, the final score 6-3, 6-4, a straight sets victory.
“To go back-to-back is pretty special,” Crabb said.
“Although it’s not often, it’s great when we can play together because I think we have very contrasting styles of play. I think that makes us a tough double team as we know each other’s mindsets.
“We’ll certainly head back next year. It’s a fun weekend away, win or lose.”
