Tennis: Sister act wins the day

Greendale’s Samantha (left) and Alexandra Cave were both title winners in the Hawke’s Bay International Junior Tennis Tournament. Photo / Paul Taylor

Samantha, Alexandra pay court to success

Meet Hawke's Bay's miniature version of the most famous tennis sisters on the planet, Venus and Serena Williams.

True, it would be cruel to compare 12-year-old Samantha Cave and her 10-year-old sister, Alexandra, with the Williamses but the Greendale pair proved this week they have the goods to follow a similar path to the Olympic Games gold medallists and multiple Grand Slam champions should they choose to do so. Both Caves won singles and doubles titles in the Kennedy Park-sponsored four-day Hawke's Bay International Junior Tournament which ended in Napier yesterday.

Woodford House Year 7 student Samantha won the 12-years singles title and the doubles title when playing with Havelock North's Ruby Roberts. Puketapu School Year 5 pupil Alexandra won the 10-years singles title and doubles title with Aussie visitor Chara Fitzpatrick.

Alexandra and Fitzpatrick also played in the under-12 doubles where they were beaten by the older Cave and Roberts in the final. Samantha also gave the 14s age group a crack and won two of her singles and finished second in the consolation plate with Netherlands visitor Nora Staples.

"We both started when we were 3. We get good coaching from Luke [Donovan] and whenever we go on holidays we always take our rackets," Alexandra replied when quizzed on the sisters recipe for success.

Quality genetics also come into the equation. Their father Neal was a 1992 Chatham Cup winner with the Miramar Rangers football team and hits a good tennis ball as does their mother Suzanna Taylor.

"I went into the 12 singles as the the No 1 seed and I wanted to stay there. Hopefully I make the Hawke's Bay under-12 reps again next year," Samantha said.

Donovan, who coached five of the 10 singles titles winners in the tournament, described the sisters as "very competitive and passionate players".

"Samantha's backhand and movement are her strengths. Alexandra also has a good backhand and for one so young is so mentally strong," Donovan said. "They both enjoy the game and also have a smile. Their etiquette is second to none," he added.

Andrew Shand won an all-Greendale final of the boys under-16 singles yesterday with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 win against under-18 title winner Albert Rocard.

Hawke's Bay Lawn's Luke Winter justified his top seeding in the under-12 singles with a win against South Canterbury's Ryan McNulty. Winter's clubmate Lily Verhoeven combined with Manawatu's Ella Wells to win the under-16 doubles title.

Tournament director Paul Evans said while yesterday's rain meant a couple of doubles titles weren't decided the 160-player event was still a tremendous success and he anticipated it will grow during the coming years.

-New Zealand Davis Cup player Artem Sitak will be in Hawke's Bay next week for a training stint with the Bay's national age group champions Rob and Finn Reynolds.

Sitak, 29, is ranked 43 in the world in doubles and is looking forward to his first visit to the Bay. The trio will train on the new No 1 court at the Reynolds brothers' Hawke's Bay Lawn club which has the same surface Sitak will play on at the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Australian Open next month.

Sitak beat Finn Reynolds in the quarterfinals of the recent New Zealand Championships in Auckland and another Bay age group product, Rhett Purcell, in the semifinals. Several of the Bay's juniors will also have a training session with Sitak on Tuesday.