Broughton absence puts Masterton in box seat for crucial clash

Masterton could have the edge on Opaki in their crucial Shirley Corlett Trophy regional one tennis match at Opaki tomorrow..
Whoever wins this game will gain an important break on their rivals at the top of the competition table and with Opaki being weakened through the absence of their No.1 player in the men's section, Russell Broughton, Masterton have the odds in their favour.
Broughton's unavailability will see promising youngster Baden Stevenson leading the Opaki challenge and his singles clash with Masterton's Geoff McKay should be a cracker.
McKay's experience could be the deciding factor there but Stevenson ran him close on at least two occasions last season and there should be little in it again.
McKay will have support from another couple of seasoned campaigners in Mike Jackson and Steve Hurley and between them they should ensure that Masterton completes the men's singles and doubles with a healthy advantage.
In that case Opaki will need to dominate the women's section to have any chance of overall victory and so they will depending largely on Katie Wyeth and Natasha Robinson to keep them in the game..They will very probably need to finish with an unbeaten record if Opaki are to grab the honours?Kand even then it might not be enough.
The other regional one match will see Carterton and Gladstone meet at Carterton and this should be a close fought affair too with perhaps Carterton having a slight edge amongst the men and Gladstone likewise amongst the women.
?? Scoresheets of regional one matches should be faxed to the Wairarapa Times-Age (3700966) by 10am Sunday mornings for publication in Monday's paper.