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Posted: 2022-05-08 23:58:30

Australia's teenage wheelchair tennis stars have clinched their second World Team Cup junior title.

The youngsters earned a 2-1 victory over top seeds Great Britain as the ITF's flagship team event drew to a close in Vilamoura, Portugal, on Sunday.

Riley Dumsday, at 16 — and a member of the Australian team that beat Great Britain in the 2019 final in Israel — earned the early lead for his team this year, defeating Joshua Johns 6-1, 6-1 in the first singles rubber.

Dahnon Ward, also 16 — and currently ranked number three in the boys' world rankings — levelled the contest for GB with an equally dominant performance that also ended in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Saalim Naser.

It set up a repeat of the 2019 event in which GB had championship points in a match tie-break that decided the doubles and the title, before Australia went on to grab victory at 14-12.

This time, Dumsday and Naser comfortably defeated Andrew Penney and Ward to score a 6-1, 6-4 win.

A trio of wheelchair tennis players smile as they hold medals and trophies after a tournament.
Dahnon Ward joins doubles rubber victors Saalim Naser and Riley Dumsday to celebrate their World Team Cup junior final win.(Twitter: Tennis Australia )

Dumsday, now a double world champion, said: "It was amazing to share the experience with a new teammate and to have him on board, and also a lot of relief from the pressure of going into the deciding match tie-break in 2019."

In 2019, Dumsday partnered Finn Broadbent to victory in the doubles match tie-break.

AAP

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