www.ntnews.com.au Northern Territory News, Monday, December 14, 2009 — 37

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Dellacqua’s tough first round

Molik Dellacqua

MELBOURNE: Former world No. 39Casey Dellacqua will continue hercomeback to tennis today with a toughfirst round clash at the AustralianOpen play off at Melbourne Park.

The West Australian left-hander, onthe comeback trail after a year riddledwith shoulder and foot injuries, willsquare off against top seededMelburnian Olivia Rogowska in thefirst of their round robin matches.

‘‘Obviously I’m a bit undercooked interms of time on court but the play-offis the perfect opportunity to get somematch time against quality opposit-ion,’’ said 24-year-old Dellacqua. ‘‘Forme it’s just about getting back out thereand playing some matches.’’

Rogowska had a breakthrough yearon the tour rising to a world ranking of138 and nearly toppling then worldNo. 1 Dinara Safina at the US Open.

‘‘There’s a lot of pressure on me astop seed but there are a lot of toughcompetitors here and everyone is going

to be a difficult opponent,’’ Rogowskasaid. ‘‘It’s a tough draw and it’s going tobe a tough competition.’’

Former world No. 8 Alicia Molikshapes as another major contender forthe event and she plays Victorian JadeHopper in her first round robin match.

In the men’s draw top young gunsBernard Tomic and Brydan Klein alsoface some challenging opponents.

Tomic, a two-time junior grand slamwinner, will play US college championJP Smith in their opening match.World No. 200 and men’s top seed Kleinplays NSW teenager James Duckworth.

NSW hopes mayhinge on SmithBRISBANE: It will be a hard act tofollow, but Steven Smith may needto repeat his first innings heroics tohelp NSW hold out a spiritedQueensland in their Sheffield Shieldclash today.

At stumps on day three, NSW was6-175 — holding an overall lead of 158runs — with Smith 22 not out afterQueensland managed to turn thetables yesterday.

The 20-year-old allrounder Smithhas already impressed in this game,thrashing a run-a-ball 102 — hismaiden first class ton — in NSW’sfirst dig. His 160-run stand withUsman Khawaja (132 not out) set upNSW’s daunting first innings totalof 5(dec)-451 on Saturday.

But Queensland still overhauled ityesterday to be bowled out for 468and grab first innings points.

Victoria cruisesto big victory

MELBOURNE: Victoria moved wellclear of its rivals on the SheffieldShield table by beating South Aust-ralia by six wickets at the MCG.

The Vics pulled off a fourth-innings run chase of 381 with aminimum of fuss, as they won earlyin the last session with 18.2 overs inreserve. Opener Nick Jewell made96, skipper Cameron White 82 notout, David Hussey 66 and BradHodge 61 in his last first-classinnings at the MCG before hispending retirement from thelonger form.

Victoria’s win moved it to 20points at the top of the table, 10 morethan its nearest rival.

South Australia at least took twofirst-innings points, which gave it ashare of second spot.

Darchinyan’s outto get revengeLOS ANGELES: Vic Darchinyanwill embark on a revenge missionafter destroying Mexico’s TomasRojas in the second round of theirsuper flyweight world-title fight inCalifornia yesterday.

The WBA and WBC championfired a powerful left hand to Rojas’chin that left the Mexican flat on hisback and unable to get up.

Minutes after the devastating winat the Agua Caliente Casino inRancho Mirage, outside LosAngeles, Darchinyan revealed hisplan to avenge the two losses thatblight his stellar 36-fight profess-ional record.

‘‘I want rematches,’’ he said.

On Darchinyan’s hit list is NonitoDonaire and Ghana’s Joseph ‘‘KingKong’’ Agbeko.

Freer’s MVP doubleByPETERTIFFEN

BASKETBALL ace Nick Freer(pictured) has won his secondMVP award in a week.

Rebels guard Freer was named theDBA men’s league season MVP onSaturday night after his side won theChampionship Season grand final.

It followed his MVP honour as thebest player at the Surabaya Internat-ional Challenge while playing for thevictorious Darwin Airport Resort AllStars in Indonesia last week.

‘‘It’s humbling,’’ Freer said. ‘‘Iwasn’t expecting to get it.’’

Slam-dunk sensation Freer saidhe thought grand final rival, andfellow American, Bayi Handy would

get the award.

‘‘Especially afterthe great season hehas had averagingover 35 points,’’Freer said.

Freer scored 21 inthe grand final to

take his season tally to 565 points in20 games at 28.25 per game.

Handy had a game-high 29 pointsin the season decider to finish with640 points in 18 games at 35.5.

But Freer put his award down tohis Rebels teammates.

‘‘It was a team contribution, Ithought,’’ he said.

He paid tribute to inspirational

captain Marcus Ch’ng.

‘‘Marcus drew so much attentionon the court it kind of left me andJarrod (Sheppard) open and able toscore,’’ Freer said. ‘‘But the award isgreat. I have never won anythinglike this before for a season.’’

Freer said making the move fromthe Great Lakes state of Michigan totropical north Australia this yearhad been worthwhile.

‘‘I am definitely glad I came,’’Freer said.

Freer nominated Rebels’ veteranJamie Hamill’s 500th game as thehighlight of his season.

‘‘That was pretty cool, getting toknow him and his brother and(Rebels president) Derek Lee as

well,’’ he said. ‘‘Just to know howmuch this season meant to thoseguys. It was great fun to play withthem and win the championship forthe first time for Rebels.’’

But Freer said now, in the absenceof a Darwin team in an AustralianBasketball Association league, hewould be forced to leave the NT.

‘‘I am going to try and break intothe ABA down south,’’ he said.

‘‘I haven’t had any offers as yetbut hopefully I can get into the try-outs after Christmas.’’

Ansett’s Samantha Drescher wonthe MVP award in the women’sleague — her second this year afteralso being named the best player inthe wet season comp.

DEFEND: Lightning’s Taylor Silas looks to shoot over Ansett’s Eloise Drescher. Picture: BRAD FLEET

Lightning winresults in joy

ByPETERTIFFEN

COACH Jason Ivinson said Lightning’swin in the Darwin Basketball Associationwomen’s league grand final wasa breakthrough.

‘‘It means a lot to us as it is our firstChampionship Season trophy,’’ he said.

‘‘A lot of the girls in the team have beenwith us since under twelves.’’

Ivinson said the win could spur the sideon to greater success.

‘‘The players are enjoying their win butthey are already starting to talk abouttraining together again and winning nextseason,’’ he said.

The win was hard-fought however andmany of the Lightning players battledinjury and illness to lift the ChampionshipSeason crown.

‘‘Claire O’Bryan suffered an asthmaattack and played with a dislocated fingerafter an errant pass hit her in the fingers,’’Ivinson said.

‘‘Tamara Sheppard tripped and suffered abad bruise and Lauren Sealy was playingwith a busted ankle.’’

Ansett also made life difficult, roaringback from a 14-point half-time deficit to takethe lead in the last quarter.

‘‘The fatigue factor kicked in as many ofour players had played in many grand finalsand it was a long weekend,’’ he said. ‘‘To ourcredit we stuck to it and came out on top.’’

Lightning lost the 2008 grand final toRebels in a thriller and Ivinson said thatexperience had helped in the 2009 decider.

‘‘The experience of the close loss last yearspurred a lot of the team on,’’ he said. ‘‘Theyweren’t about to let it happen again.’’

Lightning won seven out of the 11 grandfinals it was involved in over all grades.

‘‘It was a great weekend for the club,’’Ivinson said.

Sarah Carbone, Michelle Winch andTamara Sheppard were involved in threewinning grand finals.

Sheppard scored a combined total of 83points in the wins.