mmg.com.au

Shepparton’s Jarrod Bingham leads a five-strong Goulburn-Murray contingent in the men’s open singles at the 88th Cobram Labour Day tournament this weekend.

The 23-year-old joins Nick Fenaughty, who has ties to Cobram and Nathalia tennis clubs, Echuca’s Regan More, Kialla Park’s Cal Curtis and Shepparton’s Nick Gattuso in the draw.

Shepparton’s Hope Curtis-McDonald is the region’s top chance in the women’s open singles, which also includes Echuca’s Leanne More.

Bingham is not foreign to success at Cobram, having made the open singles final four years ago, the open doubles decider with Fenaughty three years ago and the open mixed doubles final with Josie New last year.

He starts against talented 18-year-old No.7 seed Josh Tran, who pushed defending champion Ryan Thomas in last year’s semi-finals.

‘‘I watched him last year and he can hit some amazing shots, but that’s all right — it’s a good match first up,’’ Bingham said.

‘‘Hopefully, he’s not quite ready first up and I can sneak a win.

‘‘I generally play quite attacking and that’s got to be what happens against him, otherwise he’ll hit a lot of winners against me and make me look silly... I have to serve and return quite well.’’

Bingham will again partner Fenaughty in the doubles and, like the Shepparton player’s singles, they take on a seeded opponent in Chanchai Sookton-Eng and Andrew Zelea.

‘‘It seems like the two people we’re playing are beatable. I played one of the guys (Sookton-Eng) in the singles last year in the first round and got through him,’’ he said.

‘‘They’re two Melbourne guys, so, hopefully, they’re not used to grass, especially in doubles, so we’ll just see how we go.

‘‘When you’re unseeded you expect if you don’t play a seed in the first round, you definitely will in the second round and that’s why you look forward to these tournaments — there are good players there.’’

Bingham and New will attempt to go one step further in the open mixed doubles.

The man who beat Bingham in the 2009 Cobram singles final, Ashleigh Janke, is back after skipping last year’s tournament.

No.3 seed Janke, who Bingham called a ‘‘sleeper’’ in the tournament after not playing often in recent times, is a three-time champion at this event.

‘‘It’s an event I’ve had the most success at on a personal level, so I’m definitely looking forward to it,’’ Bingham said.

‘‘It’s one of the three bigger tournaments — along with Shepparton Easter and inter-regionals — that I get ready for and this is the one I’ve had the most success at out of the three.

‘‘It seems like it will be another strong tournament.’’