Sport
Kyabram product and Moama representative Olivia Cartwright makes Australian Open women’s singles final
Olivia Cartwright is cartwheeling into perhaps her biggest test yet.
The Kyabram export who flies Moama’s flag on the grand stage has won her way through to an Australian Open final, set to roll on Thursday afternoon at Gold Coast’s Broadbeach Bowls Club.
Cartwright, 21, will face experienced campaigner and former world number two Dawn Hayman in the final of the blue-ribbon women’s singles discipline.
There’s not only pride and national acclaim at stake, either.
The $23,000 broadcast final features a $15,000 prize purse for the winner of the event, and given the way Cartwright has been performing, the week of her 21st birthday could become a whole lot sweeter on Thursday evening.
Cartwright started the weekend in fine style, progressing through the round of 128 phase by pummelling New Zealander Tayla Bruce 21-1 at the first hurdle on Saturday morning.
She skipped through the next round with relative ease, downing Karina Cooper by 14 shots before emerging a 21-17 winner over Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kristina Van Nierop in a hotly-contested round of 32 bout.
A date with Malaysian star Syafiqa Haidar Afif Abdul Rahman loomed in the round of 16, where Cartwright prevailed by a single shot.
And as the pressure increased, so did Cartwright’s performance levels.
The Steamers sensation knocked over Lisa Featherby 21-15 in the quarter-finals and followed suit with a 21-14 victory in the semi-final against Emerging Jackaroos teammate Jessie Cottell.
If Cartwright were to salute in Thursday’s decider, it would be her first singles title at the Australian Open — however, she did claim the event’s fours title in 2023.