9 Nov 2020

Soffe Cup Tennis Finally Underway 

This weekend saw some matches actually take place after being rained off last weekend.  Okaiawa hosted and beat Rotokare, Pukekura travelled to and overcame Stratford in a partially played tie, and the Inglewood/Oakura tie was rained off. 

Okaiawa hosted Rotokare and managed to run out winners by nine matches to seven.  There were two key matches in the singles, with Okaiawa winning both.  Grant Morris managed to outlast a valiant Luis Silva to take the win in the number three spot for Okaiawa 6-3 3-6 6-3.  Aroha Beattie won a third seed battle in the women’s singles 3-6 6-4 6-2.  This gave Okaiawa a five to three lead.  Rotokare managed to make up ground by winning three of the four doubles matches.  The closest of these was the victory by Rotokare’s  Lucy Atkins and, debutant, Emma Roberts 4-6 7-5 7-6(10-8).  This left things all square with the combines to play.  The combines ran to form, apart from the matchup between Murdoch/Cornish and Devlin/E.Roberts.  The Okaiawa pairing ran out winners 9-6.  This meant Okaiawa claimed three of the mixed doubles and squeezed a victory overall nine matches to seven. 

Stratford hosted Pukekura and the players managed to get through some of the singles before the rain set in.  Perhaps the biggest surprise amongst these matches was Andrew Moffat getting the better of the big serving Bruce Cleland 7-5 6-2.  It is also great to see Callum Old back playing in the Taranaki.  Unfortunately, he ran into a well-drilled Diego Quispe-Kim and went down 6-2 6-2. 

It was clear on the players’ faces that it was nice to be back out there enjoying the competition and challenge this great sport offers.