2024 Australian Open: Day 11 recap
Day 11 of the 2024 Australian Open lived up to the hype, with plenty of memorable results across the board.
Men’s Pairs – R16, QF & SF
The men’s pairs final will feature some of Australia’s brightest up and coming players, with three Right at Home Pathways Jackaroos advancing to the big stage.
It was an action-packed three rounds of men’s pairs action at Broadbeach on Tuesday, beginning with the round of 16.
Flynn O’Shaughnessy and Nathan Rice eliminated defending back-to-back champions Ben Twist and Aaron Wilson in the morning, who fell short of a historic third straight crown.
The Helensvale duo would go on to edge out brothers Jacob and Kane Nelson, before meeting a red-hot Cohen Litfin and Cody Packer in their semi final.
Trailing 7-5 and down five shots on the rink, Rice played a massive final bowl to prevent a 12-5 scoreline, instead scoring to close within one shot. From that point the Rice combo stormed away, scoring 13 consecutive shots to break the game open and book a spot in the final.
Meeting the Club Helensvale pair in the final are teenagers Joseph Clarke and Jack McShane.
The young duo, 19-years-old each, were dominant on their way to the semi finals, were they took on the highly-fancied pair of Corey Wedlock and Gary Kelly.
The young pair were not overawed by the occasion, running away with a memorable 12-shot win to setup a historic final.
The men’s pairs final will take place at Broadbeach on Thursday, June 20 from 11.30am, broadcast live on Fox Sports, Kayo, Sky Sport NZ and SBS Viceland.
VIEW THE MEN’S PAIRS KNOCKOUT DRAW
Women’s Pairs – R64, R32, R16
The women’s pairs is heading towards the pointy end, with rounds of 64, 32 and 16 taking place on Tuesday.
The first of the knockout rounds saw names including reigning pairs world champions Aleena Ahmad Nawawi and Nur Ain Nabilah Tarmizi knocked out, as well as highly-touted pairing Jamie-Lee Worsnop and Dawn Hayman at the hands of Olivia Cartwright and singles semi finalist Laura Butler.
2023 pairs finalists Carmen Anderson and Ellen Falkner bowed out in the round of 32 to Sayde Dunn and Maelene Reynolds.
2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallists Kristina Krstic and Ellen Fife snuck by Tilly Oreo and Adele Pershouse in the second knockout round by one shot.
The round of 16 featured several blockbuster contests, including Lynsey Clarke and Kelsey Cottrell against Selina Goddard and Samantha Atkinson.
The women’s quarter and semi finals will take place at Club Helensvale on Wednesday.
Note: The Round of 16 was taking place at the time of publication.
VIEW THE WOMEN’S PAIRS KNOCKOUT DRAW
Over-60s Men’s Pairs – Sections 65-110
The remaining over-60 men’s pairs sections took to the Gold Coast greens on Tuesday, after the first 64 rounds on Monday.
Among the winners were former champions Max Jaffray and Neville Jenkins, running through the day unbeaten.
18 next-best qualifiers advanced to the round of 128, with the deciding margin extremely close.
Robert and Michael Voogt advanced by one end, level on wins, shots up and down and percentage.
The men’s over-60 pairs knockout rounds (128, 64 and 32) will take place on Wednesday.
VIEW THE OVER 60s MEN’S PAIRS KNOCKOUT DRAW
Over-60s Women’s Pairs – Sectional
The women’s over 60’s kicked off with some powerhouse teams making their way through to the knockout rounds, including that of Western Australia’s Linda Warburton and Lisa Featherby.
Defending champion Karin Lynch, playing this year with Sharon Cavanagh, ensured that progression after enjoying an unbeaten day, while Sandy Wallace would also make it through with Pam Edmunds.
Knockout action kicks off on Wednesday.
VIEW THE OVER 60s WOMEN’S PAIRS KNOCKOUT DRAW
Multi-Disability Singles – Knockout
The multi disability men’s singles dwindled all the way down to four after an action packed day out at Club Mermaid.
As it happens, the tournament could see a rematch of the 2022 men’s singles final as Tasmania’s David Minns and Victoria’s Frank Krslovic ensured their place in the semifinals.
Minns, the conqueror two years ago, accounted for Emerging Para Jackaroo Lucas Protopapas in his opening match of the day before overcoming Andrew Turner and Andrew Reed to set up a semifinal clash with Graeme Smith of Victoria.
Smith took down Para Jackaroo Brett Sellars, Stephen Faux and Stephen Davies en route to the final four.
Krslovic enjoyed a wonderful day, defeating Commonwealth Games gold medallist Tony Bonnell 21-4 after taking down Victorian Andrew Brandolin 21-6 in his first encounter.
His quarterfinal against New Zealand’s Mark Noble was equally as impressive, winning 21-14 in a brilliant display.
He will meet Para Jackaroo Damien Delgado in the semi, who was scintillating in his matches, taking down his Commonwealth Games teammate in Chris Flavel 21-12 in the round of 16 before defeating Ross Higgins 21-5 in his quarterfinals.
The semifinals will commence on Thursday at 8:30am at the Broadbeach Bowls Club.
In the women’s singles, Louise Hoskins managed to book passage through to her maiden Australian Open final with a nail biting 21-20 victory over New Zealand’s Lynda Bennett.
She will meet either Serena Bonnell or Cheryl Lindfield in the decider, with their contest to be played tomorrow at Musgrave Hill.
MULTI-DISABILITY MEN’S SINGLES KNOCKOUT DRAW
MULTI-DISABILITY WOMEN’S SINGLES KNOCKOUT DRAW
Vision-Impaired Singles – SF
The vision-impaired open singles will see seven-time Australian Open champion Jake Fehlberg take on Western Australia’s Calvin Rodgers for the title in a battle between two Para Jackaroos.
Fehlberg was able to gain revenge on 2023 champion Scott Kinnear in a rematch of last year’s final, taking victory 21-17 as he bids for a third singles title.
Rodgers was able to overcome two-time singles winner Fred McConnell 21-10 as he makes his claim for a maiden crown at the tournament.
The final will be played at Broadbeach on Thursday.
VISION-IMPAIRED SINGLES KNOCKOUT DRAW
The 2024 Australian Open will run from the June 8-21, 2024 on the Gold Coast in Queensland with Rinkside Live coverage from 9am AEST daily on Bowls Australia’s YouTube channel.
