By Dave Worsely
Hawkes Bay's Finn Reynolds and his doubles partner Durate Vale of Portugal have kept on winning at the Australian Open.
The unseeded pair who are a scratch combination coming into the tournament beat top seeds Toru Horie (Japan) and Vibing Wu (China) 7-6(7) 7-6(3) on show court 3 in the semifinals.
What made the win all the more satisfying was that they were down 1-5 on the scoreboard in the first set but staged a remarkable comeback against their top opposition.
Now they are in the Australian Open Boys Doubles final, the first Kiwi player to be in a Junior Boys Grand Slam final since Wimbledon 1993 when Steven Downs and James Greenhalgh combined together to win the title.
For the left-handed 17-year-old Kiwi making the final has been more than a pleasant surprise.
"It’s a great feeling. I never would have imagined it before the tournament I mean we’d never played before the tournament but things have worked out perfectly.
It was a really cool experience on that court, a big crowd. After the match I looked around and thought wow," said Reynolds.
"To win 7-6 7-6 we just played solid tiebreaks and just lifted it up and they made a couple of errors that was the difference. Whoever we play it’s not going to be easy. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing and have fun out there."
For the more experienced and higher ranked Vale the whole tournament has been a shock as he wasn’t sure about his partner to start with.
"I was nervous to be honest to play with a guy with a lower ranking. Today I’m supposed to step up but during the first set he came through and he was the one who got us there today….it was so good. We’re not only playing well, but we’re having fun together," said Vale.
They now face fourth seeds Yu Hsiou Hus (Taipei) and Lingxi Zhao (China) for the title again on show court 3 as the third match on from 3pm.
Newshub.
