In just his second trip to Merriwa Park, Jeremy Taylor claimed victory in the men’s open singles at the 2026 Dal Zotto Wines Australia Day Tournament in stunning fashion.

Up against two-time champion Matthew Peart, Taylor held his resolve to salute 7-6 6-4 in the decider on Sunday afternoon.

It seemed a procession at times for the top-seeded player, advancing rapidly to the semis with a 6-0 6-2 win over Jordan Roseblade and a 6-0 6-1 win over Sam Allen.

Taylor then defeated fifth seed Harry Buttifant 6-2 6-2 to book a spot in the decider against the talented Peart.

“The early rounds were some tough matches and some good opponents,” Taylor said.

“The early stages of tournaments can always be tough while you’re adjusting to the courts and conditions, so it was good to get through them.

“I’d never played Matt Peart in singles before but I knew he was a great player and had won a couple of titles here in the past.

“He played my brother in the earlier rounds of the tournament and I got to watch some of that match which gave me a sense of what his game was like.

“I definitely knew it was going to be tough match going into it, and especially with the hot conditions on Monday I was ready for a battle.”

It was a gruelling title fight, with both players sweating it out under the blazing sun in front of an eager crowd.

The pair seemed evenly matched, but Taylor found his edge.

“It was a great, tough match – there were lots of back and forth with a quite a few breaks of serve, but no one could quite get on top early in the match,” he said.

“Luckily, I was able to come through in the first set tiebreaker and then Matt didn’t go away at all in the second set and kept fighting very hard, but eventually I was able to get ahead a little towards the end of the second set.”

It was a weekend to remember for Taylor, also taking out the men’s open doubles title with brother Alexander.

The duo defeated Harry Buttifant and Alex Scrutton 6-4 in the decider on early Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately, Taylor and wife Maddie couldn’t claim the mixed doubles crown, defeated 4-6 by Josh Bennier and Stefanie Navaratnam.

Despite being relatively new to the tournament, Taylor was already marking down the days until the 2027 event.

“I’m definitely planning to come to back to the tournament next year,” he said.

“The whole family had a great time playing the event in many different grades and I loved playing doubles with my brother and wife in the tournament too.

“Also, it was an amazing effort by everyone who organised and ran the tournament, as well as their sponsors to put on such a great tournament.”