Martinborough take control

REVENGE: Chris Davidson notched up a doubles win for Opaki.

Martinborough and Gladstone/Carterton both provided minor upsets in the latest round of Wairarapa Tennis regional one matches played over the weekend.

Martinborough, in particular, will be well pleased with their 6-3 defeat of Masterton/Trinity considering their kingpin men's player, Marco De Groot, was unavailable.

Reversing their round one defeat to the same team, Martinborough gained the upper hand in the singles exchanges and were never headed.

The backbone of the Martinborough effort came from Rhona Lovell and Sissy Pickering, who proved to be a class apart from their younger opponents, sweeping the women's matches with solid performances in both singles and doubles.

Bruce Lovell also had a perfect record for the day for Martinborough while Campbell Venning chipped in with a determined singles victory over Matt Bunny.

For the losing team, Jono Hurley finished the day unbeaten while Jonty Tatham showed considerable promise with a straight-sets victory over Jamie McMaster.

With their next three fixtures all being played back home on the grass, Martinborough will certainly be a difficult proposition and may well continue make a charge up the ladder into title contention.

Gladstone/Carterton bounced back from their disappointing loss a week earlier, to edge out the previously undefeated Opaki 5-4 on Friday night.

In a highly competitive fixture played under lights at Opaki, it was the women's doubles combination of Karen Herrick and Tracey Donald that won the decisive match for Carterton/Gladstone, overcoming Katie Alsop and Nicola Wall in a tight encounter. For Donald, it followed on from a tenacious singles win and proved to be the difference in the final wash-up, as the men's matches were shared.

Kelby Courtney's defeat of Opaki's Chris Davidson was another pivotal result and while Davidson was able to exact a measure of revenge by teaming up with Stu Wyeth to win their doubles rubber, it wasn't enough to keep Opaki's perfect record intact.

Wyeth also prevailed in his singles match to be unbeaten on the night, while Matt Spooner chalked up two wins for the visitors.

Next week Masterton/Trinity play host to Opaki in a top of the table encounter, while Martinborough will enjoy their first home game of the season against Gladstone/Carterton.

RESULTS:

Martinborough beat Masterton/Trinity 6-3 (Martinborough names first).- Men's singles: Andy Darling lost to Jono Hurley 1-6 0-6; Campbell Venning beat Matt Bunny 6-1 6-4; Jamie McMaster lost to Jonty Tatham 3-6 2-6; Bruce Lovell beat Guy Lewis 6-4 6-2. Women's singles: Rhona Lovell beat Sophie Fitzgerald 6-2 6-0; Sissy Pickering beat Rebecca Perry 7-6 6-2. Men's doubles: Darling and Venning lost to Hurley and Bunny 3-6 1-6; McMaster & Lovell beat Tatham & Lewis 6-3 3-6 7-6. Women's doubles: Lovell and Pickering beat Fitzgerald & Perry 6-4 6-4.

Gladstone/Carterton beat Opaki 5-4. (Gladstone/Carterton names first).- Men's singles: Matt Spooner beat Brett Dymond 6-2 6-3; Kelby Courtney beat Chris Davidson 6-3 7-5; Alistair McWilliam lost to Stu Wyeth 3-6 5-7; Steve Hurley lost to Duncan Oakley 2-6 0-6. Women's singles. Karen Herrick lost to Katie Alsop 2-6 4-6; Tracey Donald beat Nicola Wall 7-6 6-3. Men's doubles: Spooner and Hurley beat Dymond and Oakley 6-0 6-1; Courtney and McWilliam lost to Davidson and Wyeth 3-6 7-5 1-6. Women's doubles. Herrick and Donald beat Alsop and Wall 7-5 6-3.

Competition points: Opaki 27, Masterton/Trinity 23, Gladstone/Carterton 22, Martinborough 16.