Teys and Bester set for showdown

by admin on June 23, 2015

Aaron Teys and Ryan Bester are both one win away from securing the coveted Australian Open men’s singles title and lucrative $16,000 winner’s cheque. 21 year-old Warilla warrior Aaron Teys is on the cusp of pulling off the biggest, and most lucrative, win of his career, after advancing to the $24,000 Australian Open blue-ribbon men’s singles final tonight.

Teys clawed his way back from a 6 shot deficit after four ends against Australian Jackaroos’ Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mark Casey in their semi-final hit-out at Broadbeach this evening, to book a berth in tomorrow afternoon’s coveted final decider.

The one-time NSW open level representative had already claimed the scalp of three-time World Cup winning Warilla Gorilla teammate Jeremy Henry earlier in the tournament, before continuing his scintillating run with a win against 2010 NSW Open winner Carl Healey this morning, but topped it off against 2012 Australian Opens singles winner Casey tonight, 21-18 over 22 ends.

Teys now faces the daunting reality of coming up against Canadian master blaster Ryan Bester, who calls Broadbeach Bowls Club home as its bowls coordinator and knows the surfaces like no other.

Bester was the first player to secure passage to the gold medal decider, after prevailing against South Australia’s man of the tournament, Nathan Pedersen, on the opposite rink.

Having won the men’s fours title and advanced as far as the pairs quarter-final earlier this week, few could argue against Pedersen’s deft touch and surprise-packet form, but it was former world champion Bester who led from start to finish to go within one win of his second Australian Open title, having won the pairs crown back in 2008.

2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games singles silver medallist Bester, 30, is one of the most feared players on the circuit, but Teys said the underdog status sits comfortably with him.

“I knew I had to be on top of my game to beat someone like Mark, I’d seen a few of his games and a few of his scores, so I knew that I couldn’t afford to be a bit off,” Teys said after advancing.

“He got a couple of unlucky results and a few things went my way but it was great game.

“Without a doubt, tomorrow would have to be the biggest game of my life, Ryan is one of the best so I really just hope to mix it with him and not get smacked on television.

“Hopefully I can play like I just did but it’s going to be really hard with this being his home club and all the support that he is going get.

“I like being the underdog anyway.”

The men’s singles final will be staged after the conclusion of the women’s pairs final, both of which are broadcast live on Fox Sports starting from 11.00am.

The women’s pairs gold medal play-off will see Sunshine Coast’s reigning pairs champions Emma Brown and Noelene Dutton look to become the first combination to go back-to-back in the discipline since the event’s inception ten years ago.

Standing in their way is Burleigh Heads’ Jackie Mcquinney-Shillington and former Australian representative Maria Rigby.