Beach volleyball: Kiwis in sight of clean sweep

Russell Watson (left) against fellow New Zealander Craig Seuseu. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochhead are poised to become the first Grand Slam winners on the national tour in a decade.

The New Zealand pair have won all four tour events so far and are on track to claiming their fifth in the final event, the New Zealand Open, in Auckland this weekend.

Pitman and Lochhead beat fellow New Zealanders Tim Cleaver and Stefan Gobisch 21-9, 21-12 in their opening match at the Auckland Tennis Centre yesterday.

The main threat to their Grand Slam is likely to come from the German combination of Kjell Schneider and David Klemperer, who also cruised through their first-round match, beating New Zealanders Damon Haenga and Charles Leota 21-8, 21-13.

The Germans joined the tour only last weekend where they made it through to the final in Mt Maunganui, losing to Pitman and Lochhead 15-10 in the third and deciding set.

If Pitman and Lochhead win the event, they will become the first all-New Zealand team to win the New Zealand Open since its introduction in 2001.

In the women's competition the German team of Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig are also chasing the Grand Slam. Like Pitman and Lochhead, they got their attempt off to a promising start yesterday with a comfortable win over New Zealanders Jo Waller and Shannon Bagge in their first match.

Fellow New Zealanders Megan Lippi and Nikki Moreland, seeded 11th in the tournament, came close to upsetting fourth seeds Emma Johansson and Anne-Lie Andersson of Sweden.

After losing the first set 21-18, the New Zealanders bagged the second 21-15 before losing the third 17-15.

Play continues today from 8.30am. The women's final is set for tomorrow at 3pm to be followed by the men's final at 4pm.