Rockhampton Closed Serves Up Quality Competition Across All Divisions

The annual Rockhampton Open Table Tennis Championships have once again delivered no shortage of exciting and competitive matches at the Leichardt Park Playing Centre on Campbell Street.

The tournament opened with the preliminary stages of the Men’s Open Singles, including qualifiers for the subsequent Plate event, while the Women’s Open Singles and the Veteran Singles and Doubles have also been contested.

The highlight of opening night was the Women’s Open Singles, where top seed Kelsey Pettett lived up to expectations in impressive fashion. Pettett powered through her four-player round robin without dropping a set, before repeating the feat in the final against Ann-Louise Stewart.

Stewart had also progressed to the final without losing a set, including a strong win over another title contender, Erica Nolan. She was in excellent form but could not find the answers to unsettle the on-song Pettett in the decider.

Fresh from winning gold in the Over-30 Women’s Singles at the recent State Veterans Carnival, Pettett showed the same class and composure in Rocky. While Stewart threw plenty of attacking shots her way, Pettett responded with precision and control. When Stewart turned to defensive tactics, Pettett worked the angles with her aggressive, accurate hitting—reinforcing the belief that she is playing her best table tennis since moving to Rockhampton in early 2022.

In the Men’s Open Singles, top seeds Matthew Pettett and Rayden Smith have already secured their places in this week’s semi-finals. Fourth seed Nick Green will face Pettett in the semis if he can get past the improving Leo Lai in the quarter-finals, while third seed Dane Coughlan will meet promising junior Judd Carr in his bid to set up a semi-final showdown with Smith.

While the open events provided plenty of standout matches, last Wednesday’s Veteran Singles and Doubles were equally impressive. Unlike state and association tournaments, which feature multiple veteran age groups, the Rockhampton club runs its annual closed championships in a single Over-40 division, with both men and women competing together in singles and doubles.

The Veteran Singles final was a classic, with top seed James O’Sullivan reversing last year’s result to defeat second seed Stewart in four sets. Adopting an unusually defensive style—relying on pushing and chopping after recent struggles with his attacking shots—O’Sullivan prevailed 5–11, 15–13, 11–6, 12–10 in a match filled with long rallies.

The qualifying rounds also produced some memorable encounters. O’Sullivan ended the runs of Oliver Wright and Cheryl Fletcher, while Stewart accounted for Jeff Jordan and Andy Breckenridge. Chris Leitner enjoyed a strong night, edging Allan Clarke in a five-game round robin clash before upsetting the ever-reliable Geoff Geddes in another five-set quarter-final. Warun Wilkinson notched a notable quarter-final victory over tournament contender Monica Deeth 11–6, 12–10, 7–11, 5–11, 12–10, but fell to a dominant Stewart in a one-sided semi-final.

The Veteran Doubles were also fiercely contested. In the final, Stewart and Deeth combined brilliantly to dethrone defending champions and top seeds James and Linda O’Sullivan in four sets. Their earlier straight-sets wins over Leitner/Geddes in the semis and Pam Clarke/Patricia Green in the opening rounds underlined the strength of their partnership.