Pirinoa tipped as tennis champs

Pirinoa are being touted as the team to beat in the Wairarapa premier one tennis competition this season, and they will have a royal opportunity to stake an early claim on the title at the Masterton Tennis Centre tomorrow.
There they will play Masterton, who have become the benchmark for success on the local scene, having won the premiership for the last four years.
In Luke Atkinson, Geoff Janse, Tim Pickering and Mike Jackson Pirinoa have considerable strength in their men's section and the fact Masterton will be missing the injured Steve Hurley suggests they could dominate there.
Hurley had the misfortune to dislocate a shoulder in a "friendly" rugby match when attempting to make a tackle and could be sidelined for a few weeks.
Without him Masterton will be relying on Jeff McKay, George Tatham, Nigel Tomlin and a couple of promising youngsters in Kirk Collins and Ashleigh Gane to hold the fort.
Opaki play Gladstone tomorrow and the former should prevail through the skills of such players as Russell Broughton, Hamish Fenemor and the Wyeths, Katie and Jan.
Gladstone do have the capable Alistair McWilliam leading their charge but whether they have the depth to test Opaki is doubtful.
Carterton and Martinborough should have an interesting clash, especially if Martinborough have the services of experienced quartet, Marco de Groot, Andy Darling, Rhona Lovell and Libby Paterson. They would test a Carterton line-up including Liam McMenamin, Chris Schofield and Jackie Chan.