Close battles leave two teams in lead

Tennis

Honours were shared by Martinborough and Opaki in the Wairarapa Tennis Association's Shirley Corlett Trophy regional one competition.

Both teams took their points tally to 38 when they scored important wins in the final series of matches on Saturday, Martinborough edging out Masterton 5-4 and Opaki beating Gladstone 6-3.

Helping the Opaki cause was the inability of Gladstone to field a full complement of players, something which saw them default one women's singles and one combined doubles match.

The singles were evenly contested with Opaki gaining wins through Stu Wyeth, Jon McNab and Katie Wyeth and Gladstone through Alistair McWilliam, Peter Morriss and Sandy McNab.

However, it was a different story in the doubles with Opaki taking out all three matches to seal the victory.

Martinborough and Masterton had a titanic struggle. Tim Pickering, Bruce Lovell and Rhona Lovell managed singles wins for Martinborough as did Chad Parsons, Duncan Oakley and Georgia Atkinson for Masterton.

The combined doubles were also evenly split at 1-1 and the key result was the men's doubles win secured for Martinborough by Andy Darling and Bruce Lovell over Chad Parsons and Jamie McMaster.

It did not come easily though, Darling and Lovell dropping the first set 3-6 before winning the next two 6-3, 7-6.

Meanwhile, record entries have been received for the Wairarapa Shoe Clinic parent-child tournament to be played at the Masterton Tennis Centre this coming Sunday. Forty-eight combinations have already signified their intention to take part and that number could grow over the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, there has been good news for Wairarapa tennis overseas, with Masterton's Marcus Daniell winning his second doubles title on the Futures professional circuit in as many weeks. Daniell and British player Richard Grabb were fourth seeds in the US$10,000 ($12,190) event held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and they played the second seeds in the final, winning 6-1, 7-6.