KEY POINTS:
One of the country's outstanding young bowlers, Matt Gallop, had a pivotal role in the men's singles when the New Zealand Open's main tournament started at the Henderson club yesterday.
Gallop became one of the semifinalists in the singles, to be played tomorrow or Wednesday, when he won a tense quarter-final with another emerging young talent in Auckland's Chris Le Lievre. After dropping the first set 5-7, Gallop won the second 10-5, then took the tie-breaker. Earlier Gallop and Le Lievre had both been involved in major upsets.
Gallop, from a prominent Marlborough bowls family but now based in Wellington, made the quarter-finals by beating the two-times national singles champion Petar Sain in straight sets and in the second round had beaten another former national singles title-holder in Birkenhead's Tony Grantham.
Until ousted by Gallop, Le Lievre had also claimed some major scalps, eliminating in the first round the number one seed, double world champion Gary Lawson, 5-8, 7-6, 4-2. Surprise results were frequent in difficult conditions. Three other current Black Jacks in Ali Forsyth, Richard Girvan and Andrew Todd, were others to make early exits.
Forsyth went down in a tie-breaker to Auckland's Nick Thompson, Girvan lost in the second round in straight sets to Sain and Todd also in straight sets to Nelson's Gary Watson.
Shannon McIlroy, who has been in grand form in winning early season invitation singles events in Dunedin and Nelson, also went down. Aucklander Jamie Hill beat him in a tie-breaker. Hill himself then went out to another promising player, fellow Aucklander Danny Delaney.
Joining Gallop in the semifinals yesterday were Australian Mark Jacobsen, who beat Auckland veteran Nick Ggricevich, and Canterbury's Shayne Sincock, who overcame Australian Carl Healey. In the women's pairs New Zealand's world champions, Jo Edwards and Val Smith, had two good early wins, as did Australian Karen Murphy and her Scottish partner Kay Moran. This meant these two strong combinations clashing in the quarter-finals with the
Kiwis missing out 16-8. New Zealand's best hopes now rest with the established pairing of Sharon Sims and Mary Campbell.
