Whanganui players feature in top level CD squash doubles tournament grades

CD Squash men's doubles champions Matt Ratcliffe (left) and Stephen Bennett.

Hometown player Matt Ratcliffe stood up when it counted to help produce an upset win in the men's division 1 match-up at the annual Central District Doubles tournament hosted by the Whanganui Squash Club at the weekend.

Ratcliffe teamed with Palmerston North's Stephen Bennett, while the mixed division 1 final also featured a hometown hero, Rod Bannister, but he and young central junior rep Abbie Holmes from Hawera succumbed to top seeds Mickayla Kerr from Palmerston North and Whanganui's Kent Darlington.

The women's division 1 title went to 2nd seeds Kerr and Holmes, who upset top seeds Jacinta Harrison and Chelsea Aim from New Plymouth.

The tournament turned out to be a thrilling few days of tough matches across all divisions and with up to 60 different pairings between all three draws it was a big improvement for the event over the last few years.

The men's division 1 final produced an upset when 2nd seeds Ratcliffe and Bennett won the five set cliff-hanger over the top seeds, Bannister and Darlington.

Earlier in the semi-final Ratcliffe/Bennett had beaten 3rd seeds Matt Nation and Jared Scrivens from Palmerston North 3/2, while Bannister/Darlington defeated another Whanganui combo, the McKenzie brothers, Brett and Bryce 3/0.

In the final Ratcliffe/Bennett dropped the first set but went 2/1 up by securing the next two curial sets, one where they came back from set point. They dropped the 4th as Bannister/Darlington desperately clung on but in the fifth set it was Ratcliffe/Bennett who were always a few points ahead. They took the title winning 3/11, 11/10, 11/10, 9/11, 11/6.

In the mixed division 1 draw, once again both semi-finals and the finals were five setters providing plenty of entertainment. Top seeds Kerr and Darlington managed to take the win against the 2nd seeds Bannister and Holmes.

In what was a couple of huge matches for Kerr/Darlington, the two Central Masters representatives counted themselves lucky after taking out the semi-final against the 5th seeds James Gould and Nicki Gibbs from Kapiti. In that match they were down 2/1, but won the 4th to tie it up at 2/2. In the fifth set they found themselves in a huge hole again at 8/1 down, however started a huge comeback by getting back to 9/8 in one service hand.

They then lost a chance at 10/9 serving for the match as Gould/Gibbs tied it up at 10-all and with the sudden death play Kerr/Darlington ended up winning on their opponent's error to clinch it 6/11, 11/6, 7/11, 11/7, 11/10.

Meanwhile, the other semi-final saw Bannister/Holmes also come back from 2/0 down to eventually win in five against the Palmerston North pair of Bennett and Rebecca Clifford 8/11, 9/11, 11/9, 11/5, 11/5. The final, therefore, lived up to its expectation of a big match.

Again Kerr/Darlington found themselves in trouble after losing the first two sets. This was due to crucial errors by the Kerr/Darlington combo and also to Holmes playing out of her skin, despite being a young junior among experienced masters.

However, Kerr/Darlington turned up the heat from that point on and came back strong to eventually win the thrilling match 10/11, 10/11, 11/7, 11/2, 11/6.

The women's draw also provided an upset in the final with the 2nd seeds Kerr/Holmes capping of a great weekend by winning the womens division 1 title.

They beat the top seeds Harrison and Aim in the final 3/0. Earlier they defeated Ngakuria Osborne and Amy Osborne from Whanganui/Ohakune 3/0 in their semi, while Harrison/Aim beat Whanganui's Pauline Solvak and Clifford 3/0 to advance through to the final.