Vinnie Santostefano capped off a great weekend by winning one of three Western Australian spots in the upcoming 2013 Australian Indoor Championships.
After a nervous start in his section, losing his first set 3-10 to D Payne from Safety Bay, Santostefano rallied to win the second set 7-5 before winning the tie-break 4-3.
It didn’t get any easier when he ran into Australia A squad member and 2012 Australian Indoors qualifier Clive Adams in the afternoon. Another close tussle saw Santostefano advance 7-12, 8-4 and 4-2 in a tie-break.
Moving to Rossmoyne for the knockout stage of the event on Sunday, he defeated J Thorn from Doubleview in the alignment round, again in a tie-break. Amazingly he was able to triumph after an extra end when the tie-break ended at 4-4, having dropped a four on the second end.
From there he defeated Garry Lockett to move into the last six and was left to face Australian Singles Runner-Up Matthew Ayres from Stirling for a place in the Australian Indoors. Santostefano showed poise and outstayed his younger opponent to win the match two sets to nil.
Seven other South Perth players were in action over the weekend and all managed to win at least one game.
Ryan Havercroft again made it to the final six before losing to Charlie Slavich the final round of matches. After winning his section, which included Thomas Mitchell, he defeated Grant Nicol Sunday morning before falling agonisingly short for the second consecutive year.
Glenn Pauling was eliminated by Tristan Smallacombe in the round of twelve on Sunday. Glenn defeated former Champion Of Champion Singles winner John Berecz in sectional play and then Lewis Grigg in the alignment round.
Ross Pringle, who previously competed in the Australian Indoors, lived up to his reputation as a tough singles player. Drawn in a difficult section, he eliminated Wagin’s Warren Holt and Wanneroo’s Ken Boswell before falling to a red-hot former Kalamunda teammate in Bill Brandsma on Sunday morning.
Greg Reagan defeated T Hinkley from Quinns having lost to eventual section winner M Radalj in his opening game.
Brett Havercroft lost his first game against Garry Lockett but rallied to defeat P Sinden from Mt Lawley in his second outing.
Scott Walker played in a tight section that resulted in three tie-break matches. He defeated the handy Rob Bowron from Eaton but came up one shot short in a tie-break decider against I Parker from Quinns Rocks.
Nick Reagan started well defeating J Edmonds from Wanneroo but was unable to overcome R Lovell from Armadale in his second game.
Dandaragan bowler John Brown, who plays midweek bowls for South Perth, was drawn in a difficult section alongside Matt Mitchell from Manning and Dean Tinley from Mosman Park. Though unable to record a victory, he did push section winner Tinley to a deciding tie-break.