Krstic kills them with brilliance – Women’s State Singles Wrap
A mixture of state singles finals experience took part in the Dyenamic Sublimation Women’s State Singles semi-finals at the Bassendean Bowling Club on Sunday January 24th.
In the first semi-final Kristina Krstic (Manning) was shooting for her fourth title in the last six years while Pam Chalmers (Osborne Park) was looking for her first. Krstic started quickly by grabbing a four on the first end and putting Chalmers on the back foot. By the time the game had reached the eight end, Krstic had already established a 10-1 lead ad was proving a little to consistent.
Chalmers staged a mini fightback by winning three ends in a row and closing the gap to 7-12, only to see Krstic step up her game and score nine shots over four ends to race away to a 22-8 match winning lead, on one of those ends Chalmers drew all four bowls within inches only to see Krstic drive them out each time to be left with one shot of her own. Chalmers left bemused as to how she was unable to score such as the brilliance of Krstic. The two players traded singles over the concluding stages but Krstic was not going to relinquish her position and moved into another final with a 25-10 win over Pam Chalmers.
The second semi final was a similar mix of state singles semi-final experience with Therese Hastings (Guilderton) four titles to her credit and Chris Ace-Watson (Boulder) looking for number one. However, in this game it was the less experience player who shot away at the start and put the experienced Hastings on the backfoot.
A three on the first end by Ace-Watson was followed by a single and a two to find herself with a 6-nil lead. Hastings hit back as expected and had closed the gap to three by the tenth end at 7-10. It was at this point Ace-Watson hit hard and strung together seven winning ends in a row totalling 14 shots and only a single away from victory leading 24-7. For four ends Hastings make Ace-Watson work putting together a string of wins including a four to move to 14 and put some doubt in the contest. However, coming back from there against a quality opponent was always going to be unlikely and Chris Ace-Watson closed it out with a 25-14 win.
Main Photo: Chris Ace-Watson, left and Kristina Krstic shake hands before the final.
The final started on an even keel with Kristina Krstic winning the first few ends by taking a number of singles with great bowls going back and forth between the players. However, signs began to emerge that Krstic was going to start asking some big questions of Chris Ace Watson’s consistency. Krstic is well known for her relentless pressure of putting bowls on the jack and making her opponents come up with big bowls to hold her out. After ten ends it was 10-nil when a relieved Ace-Watson got on the board with a single and then a two. This was followed by a Krstic three and a single before she gave up a three of her own to Ace-Watson which gave the contest some life.
Sensing her opponent gain in confidence from the three, Krstic went to another level again and won the remaining seven ends to close out another WA State Singles Championship 25-6. Amazingly at just 26 years of age Krstic has already equalled her Australia coach and mentor Therese Hastings with four singles titles as the most wins by any player in the competitions 85 year history.
