Australia’s Luke Saville became the first player to win a professional title of the decade when he triumphed at the M15 Te Anau in New Zealand – the world’s most southerly tournament - on 5 January.

Saville, whose last triumph came four years ago, was understandably delighted to get his year off to a winning start.

"Winning 5 matches in New Zealand was exactly what I went there for and to perform at this level was great for me," he said. "I haven’t won a tournament for quite a while so it was very exciting to get that success on the singles court. I feel like it has set a great platform for me to build from for the remainder of the season.

"It was a very important win. It has put my ranking back inside 300 and gets me a step closer to my goal of returning to the top 250. I have been playing well on the doubles court but I still want to keep giving singles a really good go."

Saville was a particular fan of Te Anau, the location for the most southerly tournament on the tennis calendar.

"I loved being in Te Anau," he said. "The community was very friendly, the scenery was amazing and the courts were great. Being an Australian, it was basically like being home and playing in my own backyard. I enjoyed the country feel that Te Anau had and I would love to head back there sometime."

Five things you need to know about the 25-year-old Aussie

• The Australian’s triumph at M15 Te Anau was his first professional title since he won at the Ursula Pro Tennis Classic (then a Futures event) back in 2015.
  
  
• Five of Saville’s eight career titles have come in his native Australia – all at Futures level – while six of those eight have come on a hard court.
  
  
• Saville is a former Junior World No. 1, having won the boy’s title at both 2011 Wimbledon and the 2012 Australian Open, and also finishing a runner-up at both events – the Australian Open in 2011 and Wimbledon in 2012.
  
  
• Saville has made five main draw appearances at the Grand Slams. His best result? A second round run at 2014 Wimbledon, where he recorded his best-career win to date with victory over world No. 57 Dominic Thiem in the first round.
  
  
• Saville reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 152 in February 2015, but currently sits at No. 315 following his triumph at Te Anau. He’s a Top 100 doubles player and reached a career-high spot of No. 73 last November shortly after winning his eighth(!) doubles title of the year at the Traralgon Challenger with Max Purcell.