Pegasus Post: January 17, 2017

PEGASUS POST Tuesday January 17 2017 15
Falck dominant in under-14 champs
• By Gordon Findlater
BURWOOD PARK’S Reece
Falck has returned home from
Auckland as the country’s top
tennis player in his age group.
He only dropped one set on
his way to winning the under-14
New Zealand Junior Championships
at the Scarbro Tennis
Centre last week.
Edgeware’s Liam Adams also
grabbed victory at the competition,
winning the doubles title
with Queenstown’s Thomas
Hartono. The South Island pairing
defeated Jayden Harrison
and Anton Shepp 6-3, 6-1 in the
tournament final.
Both Adams and Falck also
tasted success playing for Canterbury
in the national under-14
teams event which finished in
Auckland on Sunday. A strong
four days for Canterbury concluded
with a tight 5-4 win over
Auckland in the final.
Falck, 14, moved to Christchurch
with his parents from
Johannesburg, South Africa, as a
five-year-old. His father, Andrew,
took up the junior coaching role
at Burwood upon their arrival
and has worked directly with his
son since.
“He’s always had the drive,”
said Andrew.
“When we first arrived here, he
used to have a little foam ball he
would go outside and hit against
the garage door. When we were
back in South Africa, we had an
outside wall and he would go
and do the same thing from a
young age.”
He’s come a long way since
then. Falck has been playing for
Burwood in the Christchurch
premier men’s interclub competition
and has represented New
Zealand at age group level.
The Shirley Boys’ High School
student got through his first and
second round matches at the
junior championships with relative
ease winning 6-0, 6-0 and
6-3, 6-3.
In the third round, Falck came
up against sixth seed Michael
Gealogo, of Wanaka. After
winning the first set 6-2, Falck
dropped the second 4-6. However,
he dominated in the decider
to win 6-1.
He then faced his tournament
doubles partner, Matthew
Shearer, of Auckland, in the
semi-final. The pair had crashed
out of the doubles earlier in the
competition at the quarter-final
stage. Falck sent Shearer packing
in the singles 6-1, 6-4.
On Wednesday, Falck went
up against No 1 seed and New
Zealand junior representative
Nick Beamish in the final. What
was billed as a gruelling match
turned out to be anything but as
Falck dispatched the tournament
favourite 6-0, 6-2.
“I was expecting a really tough
match so I was kind of surprised
SPORTS
with the outcome, but I knew if
I could play well then the score
could be like that,” said Falck.
Earlier this month, he competed
in the under-16 New
Zealand Junior Championships
at Wilding Park.
After progressing past the
first round, he ran into third
seed and eventual runner-up
George Stoupe, of Hutt Valley.
He pushed his older opponent to
a third set before going down 5-7,
6-4, 1-6.
“That gave me a lot of confidence
coming into this tournament,”
said Falck.
He has now turned his attention
to the Canterbury ITF tournament,
which begun yesterday
at Wilding Park. Falck will be
looking to earn points and improve
his junior world ranking.
The teenager said he was also
hopeful of earning a spot in the
New Zealand Junior Davis Cup
team within the next two years.
CHAMPION: Reece Falck
took out the under-14 national
tennis title in Auckland
last week. He then helped
Canterbury to victory in the
national teams event.
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