By DAVE WORSLEY
The Joneses came close to winning all four titles on offer at the New Zealand 18s championships at North Harbour yesterday.
The only title GD and Sacha did not secure was the girls' doubles after each had won a singles title and GD had won the boys' doubles.
What made the girls' singles title win so amazing was not that Sacha only turned 13 last month, but the way she won it.
Sacha beat top seed Lucy Cole, 16, also of Auckland, 6-0, 6-1 in 53 minutes, with the older girl appearing more stage-struck than her barely teenaged opponent.
"I'm pretty happy with the win and the way I played. I think she [Cole] was more nervous than me," a grinning Sacha said.
Sacha qualifies to play the 18s tournament every year up to and including 2008.
Big brother GD, 17, did not have things all his own way in the boys' final, beating second seed and fellow Aucklander Kiril Tcherveniachki in three sets.
GD won the first 6-3 but dropped the second 5-7 as Tcherveniachki fought back and Jones made errors.
However, in the third set GD was able to increase the tempo and started hitting winners again.
In the doubles final, GD and Richard Cahi took three sets to defeat Jonathan Hooper and Kevin Doh. But in the girls' doubles final, Sacha and Cole were defeated in straight sets by second seeds Makere Bardnam and Luci Barlow.
Tennis: It's tough keeping up with the Joneses
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