AJO Finals matchups decided on Super Sunday

A stellar day of finals action at Melbourne Sports Centres has set the stage for the 2023 Australian Junior Open finals on Monday.

More than 160 matches were played across the course of the day, with the all-important quarter and semi finals of all 10 divisions culminating in 20 players earning their position in the title deciders.

Eighteen-year-old Ken Lamb (NSW) played in arguably the two matches of the day, if not the tournament, to make his way through to the U19 Boys Final.

Lamb took 55 minutes to take down long time rival Andre Lynn (VIC) in the quarter final, then went the distance in another five-game semi to take down New Zealand’s Apa Fatialofa, once again in 55 minutes.

“I’m pretty tired,” said Lamb. “Andre and I have played a lot of times. The most recent time went to five as well. I know Andre really well, he knows me really well. I knew it was going to be tough.

“I played Apa in 2019 in a schools competition and it went to five too, so I knew it was going to be tough, particularly after the match in the morning. I was glad to get through.”

Lamb will no doubt sleep well tonight despite the excitement of contesting the U19 final on Monday afternoon against two-time defending champion Oscar Curtis (WA).

“Oscar’s an incredible player, but I guess anything can happen especially on the glass court, so hopefully I might be able to cause an upset.”

The first defending champion to book their place in Monday’s finals was 2022 U17 girls winner Lijana Sultana. The Maltese Commonwealth Games representative came through her two Sunday matches without dropping a game and is happy with her form going into tomorrow’s final against New Zealand’s Maiden-Lee Coe.

“It was very fun - playing on the glass court is just a completely different experience, it’s just really exciting to play,” said the 16-year-old after her semi final win over Emmy Lamb (NSW). “I feel I was very confident in that match, so I feel like I played really well.”

Coming into the tournament on the back of last year’s win, Sultana hasn’t taken anything for granted this week.

“I’m just out here to try my best and whatever happens, happens,” she said. “Obviously it’d be really good to win, but the mindset is my goal, just to have a really good mindset throughout the whole tournament no matter what happens.”

WA’s Hannah Slyth made the under 17 final in 2022 and has a chance at the under 19 title in 2023 having moved into the decider against defending champion Madison Lyon (QLD).

Slyth dropped the second game of both her quarter and semi finals, but showed composure in both matches to overcome Shona Coxsedge (QLD) and Amelie Guziak (VIC).

“I think it’s a mindset thing, just being like ‘it’s one game all, it’s even now, the game’s not over, it’s still really close’ and just resetting,” she said.

“I felt really good on the court,” said Slyth. “I’ve never played on a full glass court before so it was pretty fun to play on this one.

“Yesterday afternoon I had a hit and got used to seeing the white ball on the dark court and I just felt really good today.

“My goal is to just to go out hard from the very beginning and try my best - I’ve got nothing to lose. It’s the under 19 final and everyone will be watching.”

With Lyon triumphing in her semi final against Victoria’s Courtney Scholtz, it means all three players defending titles from 2022 have the chance to win again this year.

The 2023 Australian Junior Open concludes on Monday 24 April with matches commencing at 8am AEST.

Centre Court action will be streamed live on SquashAUS.TV from 9am AEST.

2023 Australian Junior Open Finals (*times are approximate)
9:00am AEST U11 Girls Final: Elizabeth Wang (NSW) v Timonaliz Alarcos Kriebisch (PNG)
9:30am AEST U11 Boys Final: Kovin Surendran (MAS) v Shayan Samtami (SIN)
10:00am AEST U13 Girls Final: Emily Senior (JPN) v Olivia van Zon (SA)
10:30am AEST U13 Boys Final: Alexander Marsh (WA) v Kieran Willathgamuwa (NSW)
11:00am AEST U15 Girls Final: Sarbani Maitra (QLD) v Grace Spencer (NZL)
11:30am AEST U15 Boys Final: Erwin Christopher (MAS) v Flynn Bartlett (QLD) 
12:30pm AEST U17 Girls Final: Lijana Sultana (MLT) v Maiden-Lee Coe (NZL)
1:00pm AEST U17 Boys Final: Darcy Hayes (VIC) v Josh Raj (QLD)
2:00pm AEST U19 Girls Final: Madison Lyon (QLD) v Hannah Slyth (WA)
2:30pm AEST U19 Boys Final: Oscar Curtis (WA) v Ken Lamb (QLD)