Gallery ǀ Winners crowned on thrilling final day of Victorian Grasscourt Championships in Shepparton

Fourth seed Scott Jones took home the tidy prize pool in the men’s singles final after his opponent, third seed Moerani Bouzige, was forced to retire due to a back problem early on Friday morning.

Jones had won the first set 6-4.

The men’s champion said he was extra pleased with the win as he had only recently returned to the tournament circuit after some time away.

“I’m definitely happy to take the win but obviously it’s a shame for him (Bouzige) to have to pull out with a bit of a sore back, but you take it as it goes,” Jones said.

“I’ve had a bit of time off for travel and things like that, the body’s a bit sore now after a few games but I’m really stoked with the win.”

A longer, tighter tussle unfolded on Friday morning in the women’s singles final, where third seed Kaylah McPhee managed to overcome a resilient effort from eighth seed Alicia Smith.

McPhee pushed through some late pressure and a flurry of unforced errors to run out the winner 6-4, 6-0.

“It was tight, I’ve played Alicia in many finals in AMTs before, I stuck to my game and got lucky today,” McPhee said.

“She played a really good game and there were moments there where it could have gone either way.”

McPhee is also making a return to regular competitive tennis after an extended break due to injury.

“It was really nice to spend some time on the grass and get a win,” she said.

“I‘ve struggled with injury and have been out for about two and a half years.

“I started back at Wimbledon on grass six months ago, I lost first round so I was hoping to get some wins under my belt and I did.

“I feel like I’ve accomplished what I wanted to this tournament.”

Sean Van Rensburg and Ken Cavrak combined to come away with the men’s doubles title, outlasting Blake Bayldon and Lawrence Sciglitano 6-3, 7-6.

“I thought it was a pretty tough final, we had an early break in the first set and we held on to our serve after that,” Cavrak said.

“Second set was a bit closer, we got broken early but we broke back, it got to a tie-break and it was the first tie-break where we got over the line.

“It was pretty tough, they were serving really well.”

Both players narrowly missed out on individual accolades throughout the week.

Cavrak suffered a narrow 7-6, 6-3 loss to eventual champion Jones in the men’s singles semi-final on Thursday, while Van Rensburg went out in the quarter finals to Bouzige 6-3, 6-0.

“It was a tough week on the body, playing a lot of matches in pretty hot weather,” Cavrak said.

“We both got through it though and had a pretty successful tournament overall.”

Bringing the tournament to a close was second-seeded duo Irina Ramialison and Marianna Zakarlyuk, who defied the odds to come away with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 4-10 tie-break win over first seeds McPhee and Monique Barry.

The pair backed up a tie-break win in their semi-final match on Thursday, where they battled to a 2-6, 7-6, 8-10 triumph over Bridget Mihulka and Ashlee Narker.

“We are very happy because yesterday was so, so tight,” Ramialison said.

“Now, here we are, we’ve won, it was the first time we played together so we did well.

“It’s great practice for the next tournament on Sunday in Swan Hill, it was a very, very good tournament for us to get a win.”

Meanwhile, local Shepparton Lawn player Olivia Quigley came away with a tournament triumph in the women’s main match play event after going down in the early stages of the women’s singles draw.

After losing out to eventual singles champion McPhee, Quigley recorded a 6-3, 6-4 win over Marfa Solovei in the semi-final on Thursday before winning the final in a walkover.

Due to a lack of space, the weekend’s GMLTA, SDTA and SJTA results will feature in Wednesday’s News.