Both Australian teams got off to a reasonable start yesterday. The men had a win against Sri Lanka 3 – 1.
William Henzell was solid as usual and performed well.

The only downside was the injury to Robbie Frank. He went over on his ankle late in his match at 7 – 9 in the 4th set. After an injury time out he was not able to move well enough to get himself back into the match.

This made the 3rd match crucial. David Powell played well in the number 3 position. After letting a 10 – 8 lead in the 3rd game he composed himself well to take the 4th game in an important match.

William was able to close out the tie with a comfortable 3 – 1 win against Sri Lanka’s number 1 player.

The women had a late match against Brasil. After watching some of the Opening ceremony, the players prepared for their match at 8.30pm or 2.30am Australian EST. The player seem to have adjusted well to the time zone now.

Vivian Tan hit the ground running and gave the team a great start defeating Brasil’s number 1 player. The Brasilians all had difficult serves to cope with especially the number one player. Vivian struggled with her serve in the first game but was soon able to adjust well and once in the rally was able to get on top of her. Using her serve to great effect and her speed in the rallies Vivian came home with a good tart for the team.

Then Miao Miao easily accounted for the number 2 player. Miao was dominant and looked well above her opponent. So a 2 – 0 lead to Australia and it all seemed plain sailing.

Peri Campbell-Innes played at number 3 and struggled with her own serve being faulted a few times for both her forehand and backhand serve. This threw Peri who was not able to get herself into the match and went down 3 – 0. She struggled with the strong forehand of the Brasilian player going down in 5 sets.

So the hero had to now be Vivian. She came out full of confidence and dominated the match against the number 2 player. Vivian looked in strong form today and held the team together.

Overall a good start for the girls. They come up against New Zealand today. There is some talk of them playing Li Chun Li as this looks to be a must win match for the Kiwis if they want to go to the Commonwealth Games.