Atkinson shows the way

Gladstone's Sade Atkinson was a star performer at the national 14 years tennis championships held in Hamilton last week, combining with Aucklander Kelly Drew to win the girls' doubles title and placing third in the singles.
For the regular No1 in the women's section for the Wairarapa senior team over the 2010-11 season, the results at the nationals mirrored her rankings as she and Drew were the top seeds in the doubles and Atkinson herself was third seed in the singles.
Statistics would suggest Atkinson and Drew were a class above their rivals in the doubles, as they did not drop a set in four matches. In fact, they only conceded nine games on their way to the national crown.
First up, Atkinson and Drew beat Alice-Claudia Batt and Ilsje Eramus 6-1, 6-0, and that was followed by a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Janvhi Clark and Nina Papovich. Third seeds Lucy Macdonald and Megan Rogers were disposed off 6-1, 6-1 in the semis and, in the final, Atkinson and Drew out-gunned Gabriela Coates and Annabel Ellis, both of Canterbury, 6-4, 6-2.
The singles saw Atkinson open strongly with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Marizka Oberholzer and she then blitzed Katie Antsupova 6-0, 6-0. That victory took her into the quarter-finals, where she beat Megan Rogers 6-1, 6-4. While she was beaten 6-3, 6-4 in the semis by the top seed and eventual title winner Rosie Cheng, Atkinson put up a brave fight.
She then played off for third and fourth against Annabel Ellis, with Atkinson winning 6-2, 6-1.