Apisah wins big in Singapore

NEW South Wales junior talent Violet Apisah won the prestigious WTA Future Stars title in Singapore and has earned warm praise from an Australian great.
Violet Apisah, who represented her native Papua New Guinea at last year’s Pacific Games in Port Moresby winning a silver medal in the mixed doubles, took out the Under-16 WTA Future Stars title in Singapore, defeating Indian Shivani Amineni in straight sets.
Earlier in the month, Apisah, along with Canberra’s Annerly Poulos, represented Australia at the prestigious junior tennis tournament which runs alongside the WTA Finals’ elite.
The girls rubbed shoulders with the world’s top female players, including Australian Open and US Open champion Angelique Kerber, the world number one.
“The WTA Future Stars is such a great programme for young girls to represent their country and is such a great tournament,” Apisah said.
“It’s been a great experience, meeting new players, and I’m so grateful to be a part of something like this,” the 16-year-old added.
“This experience has inspired my to do more with my tennis, to travel more and get experience.
“There is a lot of talent out there and I just need to keep pushing and training hard. I think it was a really tough match. I just had to go for my shots and make sure I was capitalising on my forehand because my backhand wasn’t that strong, and Shivani was playing smart and picking up on my weaknesses.
“I just had to tell myself to, get back in it, go for it and make the most of my shots.”
Australian Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik, in Singapore for the WTA Finals, was impressed with Apisah’s performance.
“She’s a strong girl and she’s a big hitter from the back of the court; she has a great technique to her serve,” Molik told Fairfax Media.
“When she’s a bit more explosive, she’ll be better at moving up to the shorter balls. But I don’t see too many holes.
“She’s got the world ahead of her. I wasn’t that good at that age, and probably neither was Sam (Stosur),” Molik said. “To play where the best eight players in the world are playing, to share that stage, is a pretty phenomenal experience as a junior. She definitely has the game to be a good player.” – tennis.com.au