Mitchell battles to Open semi-final

Above: Mitchell James serves at the Australian PWII Open. Picture courtesy Tennis Australia.

Mitchell James just missed the finals, during a tough schedule of eight matches in three days, at the Australian Open PWII Championships in Melbourne.

The Burpengary East resident made semi-final and play-off exits in the PWII (players with intellectual impairment) singles and doubles the weekend.

Seeded four, James started with victories over fellow Aussie Damian Phillips 6-4 6-4 and India’s Lakshmi Jadala 6-1 6-1.

However, he then lost his final Group B singles to number two seed Fabrice Higgins, from Britain, 6-4 6-3.

That put James into the semi-finals where Australia’s Archie Graham, the top seed from Ipswich, won 6-3 6-3.

In the following 3-8 play-offs, James went down 1-6 3-6 to Higgins. Graham won the men's singles beating Oliver Beadle 6-3 6-2 in the final.

In the men’s doubles James/Phillips’ lost a marathon final set and the match to Higgins/Jadala 4-6 6-2 14-12.

That was followed by a fourth match of the day this time against Aussies Graham/Joshua Holloway who won 3-6 4-6.

In their final group doubles tie James/Phillips lost another close match 6-3 5-7 7-10 to British pair Oliver Beadle and Aiden Moody.

Graham and Joshua Holloway won the men's doubles beating Beadle and Moody in the final.

It was the second year the PWII Championships had been held with the main two weeks of the Australian Open.