Apisahs win back-to-back doubles

ABIGAIL Tere-Apisah and niece Patricia Apisah won the women’s tennis doubles title at the recently concluded Newcastle Platinum Open held from Aug 5-8, claiming a share of the A$15,000 (K37,156) prizemoney.
The pair’s win comes off the back of their outstanding performance in winning the women’s doubles title in the Queensland Open last month.
Abigail, 24, and 14-years-old Patricia combined well, forming a partnership that proved formidable, resulting in their back- to-back titles in recent tournaments on the Australian circuit.
Due to heavy rainfall throughout the duration of the tournament in Newcastle, New South Wales, the doubles matches had to play short sets of four games.
Abigail and Patricia, who were seeded fourth in the draw, lived up to their ranking by making it to the final, where they saw off their opponents, who were the number one seeds, 4-1, 4-0.
The Newcastle Platinum tournament is part of the Australian money tournaments, which is a semi-professional circuit introduced by Tennis Australia in 2006.
They are designed to create quality match play opportunities and help with the transition for post junior athletes.
In 2010, the National Open tournament brand was phased out and re-branded as a tiered circuit of AMTs – platinum, gold, silver, bronze and white, based on prizemoney levels offered to the open events.