Argentinian Tommi Azar has become the first South American to claim an annual Benalla and District Men’s Singles Tennis Championship, winning the two month long championship in a high quality final by defeating local Michael Levy.

The pair belted it out for over two hours on Saturday afternoon and into the early evening in perfect Autumn tennis weather. A large Argentinian and French crowd outnumbered the local Benalla tennis lovers and Azar was clearly a fan favourite despite being over 10,000 km from his home. He was cheered and eventually paraded around the crowd after a near perfect performance.

The Argentine certainly didn't have it all his own way, though, as Levy made him work for every point. Some inconsistent serving again allowed Levy to be in the match at all times, but many brilliant and long rallies between the pair frequently ended with Azar coming up with amazing cross court or down the line winners.

The 2025 and now 2026 runner up Michael Levy was complimentary of his opponent following the match.

“Congrats to Tommi, you wouldn't find a better sportsman or fellow,” he said.

“He’s a ripping young guy and just played too good on the super important points for me to get any real control on the match. I played well enough to beat most people in that final, but he barely made an unforced error and I couldn't get any free points, except occasionally from his double faults.

“He served more than he would have wanted no doubt. When it mattered, on big break points, he got better with the serve. Tactically brilliant match too, wore me out.”

The 7-5, 7-5 score reflected the closeness of the match, however it was going to take something phenomenal to stop Azar in this form. Levy threw everything at him, hitting hard into the corners and making crisp volleys when he came forward, but Tommi limited his ability to attack by hitting high and deep to the Levy backhand corner frequently.

The move kept Levy back in the court, which restricted him from flattening the ball out and shortening the points or being able to come to net. Levy’s legs became heavy from the energy he was using to generate speed on the ball and his backhand error count was higher than usual due to this forced fatigue.

Azar’s name is soon to be added to the Benalla Men’s Tennis honour board at Benalla Gardens Tennis Club along side greats like South Australian Matt Crittenden, Frenchman Olivier Vautier, ex-Collingwood footballer Mark Beers and Levy himself.

He will be the first name with the lettering (ARG) along side his name, but perhaps not the last, with the surrounding solar projects still ongoing.

The influx of young and healthy multicultural farm workers has been exciting and beneficial for local sports clubs and has undoubtedly contributed to more energy within the community in general.

Benalla Gardens Tennis Club has always welcomed as much diversity as possible but the club president believes Benalla’s sporting clubs also give the young transient work force a reason to stay and enjoy some weekends rather than just travelling to Melbourne or other areas for their activity and entertainment.

Our clubs do provide some entertainment for the hard working youngsters, though the community likely gets much more from them, than we provide to them. Recent solar projects by several different solar farm developers, employers like Schneider Electrics and even LS Precast have added a huge amount of benefit to the community in ways much more important than just increased fiscal activity.

Gardens Tennis survives in part due to local infrastructure projects which many people have made come to area, and these people deserve acknowledgement.

Two locals at opposite ends of the tennis experience spectrum fought out the Benalla Men’s Plate Singles Championship as the lead up to the Men’s Open Final. Young Joe Boyd who only took up tennis three years ago was eventually overwhelmed by the consistency and placement of veteran player Richard Seccull.

Seccull executed an almost flawless match in front of only a few local onlookers taking the match 6-1, 6-3.

Boyd is starting to take big steps in the game. He has a great modern technique and good movement, possesses amazing shot making but stills struggles against players like Seccull that are calm, calculated and can also hit the ball hard and flat when they want.

Seccull claimed his first Plate Championship with the clinical victory and has kept on improving his game ever since joining Gardens Tennis Club a few years after he and his partner settled in the area, returning to Victoria from Byron Bay.

For information about Benalla’s 2027 Men’s, Women’s or Under 21 Singles Championship contact Gardens Tennis on 0433 520 809.

The Club is currently looking for expressions of interest from junior tennis players in under 10’s, under 12’s and under 14’s who might wish to participate in Junior Singles Championships during May before the colder months arrive.

If you have, or know, a child who wishes to play in a competitive local junior championships, call for entry information.

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Friday, 18th January 2030

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