Cairns, Queensland, 14 October 2024 | Jackson Mansell
In the second week of the Australian Pro Tour in Cairns, top seeds Omar Jasika and Destanee Aiava prevailed in their respective all-Australian finals.
Successfully defending his 2023 Cairns International crown, Jasika’s straight-sets victory over second seed Marc Polmans only heightens his dominance around the ITF circuit in the last six weeks.
Unbeaten since late August, the 27-year-old is now on a 27-match winning streak, almost tripling his previous best of 10.
With titles previously in Bali and Darwin, Jasika now holds a career-best ranking of world No.191.
The journey to an eighth ITF title was not as easy for Aiava, however. She needed two hours to defeat junior world No.1 Emerson Jones in the semifinal, setting up a gruelling final with top-200 player Maddison Inglis.
Aiava won 6-2 4-6 7-5 in a near three-hour battle, claiming her first professional title since October 2023.
“It felt like a good reward for a long week, as well as playing doubles,” said Aiava, the world No.196. “I think a lot of my matches were quite tough, but I was happy with my performance throughout the entire week, and I think I competed well.”
Aiava’s successful week also included reaching the doubles final with fellow Aussie Alexandra Bozovic; they fell to top seeds Petra Hule and Alana Parnaby.
The Aussie pair made it a clean sweep in Cairns this past fortnight, also triumphant in the first Cairns International tournament. Hule and Parnaby required a super tiebreak to hoist the silverware, taking it out 10-2.
The Australian Pro Tour next stops in South Australia for the City of Playford Tennis International this Sunday. It will mark the first ATP Challenger event in Australia since the Burnie International in February.
