11 Nov 2012

Icon Sports Tariki Pukekura easily accounted for Central Finance Rotokare 14-2 while Sandfords Manaia eased past AWE Huatoki 12-4.  Hareb Deken Oakura won a close contest 9-7 against Farmlands Okaiawa.

It was a tough day at the office for a depleted Rotokare side losing 14-2 to a well-drilled Pukekura side. Whizz kid Louise Waite at No 1 was untroubled in her match, beating Frances Gray 6-0 6-0, while it was business as usual for Kirsten Adam in her 6-1 6-1 win over Beccie Atkins.  Linda Reid had some problems early against hard-hitting Michelle Atkins, finally prevailing 6-4 6-1, while as expected Donna Thorne was taken to the wire by Rotokare's Juliet Farquhar at number 4, winning a three set battle 6-7 7-5 2-6.  In the men's, Pukekura's No1 Callum Old was just too consistent for Rotokare's Malcom Elder with an easy 6-2 6-1 win.  In a hard hitting men's No 2 match Mike Fleming got over Kyle Crowley 6-2 6-3 while Chris Jury at 3, was just too solid for Greg Hareb in a 6-4 6-0 win.  At number 4, Pukekura's Jamie Simpson was able to counter Shane Devlin's big serve to run out a 6-1 6-3 winner.  Rotokare's only wins were a tough 3 setter in the men's bottom doubles and a top combines win by Elder/Atkins over Old/Reid.   

With their two top women out and a couple of last minute fill-ins, Huatoki were still able to give top guns Manaia a good fright, with two of the singles and three of the doubles / combines going the distance.  Huatoki's women's No 2 Lorraine Heerdegen and debutant Hikaru Han at No. 3 both had long 3 setters against higher ranked opponents, succumbing to Maree Gopperth 6-3 2-6 6-4 and Sarah Kelly 6-2 3-6 6-4, respectively.  Nicole Koch had no problems against Chris Wilson, in a 6-1 6-1 win, while Manaia's big improver, Trudy Vince had a great 7-5 6-0 win over the experienced, but short of match play, Saori Han.  On the men's side, both Jordan Fleming and Cameron Koch showed why they are currently No 1 & 2 in Taranaki, easily dispatching Huatoki's top two men, Andrew Sangster and Chris Popata, 6-1 6-3 and 6-0 6-3 respectively.  Manaia's Michael Gates at No. 3 blunted Alastair Nairn's power with his consistency, winning 6-3 6-3.   Manaia's Beauden Fleming at No. 4, could only sit back and wonder what happened, as Murray Keast returned his powerful ground strokes with his hall mark slice and spin, to set up Huatoki's only singles win, 6-1 6-0.  Keast would go on to win his doubles with Popata and combines with Hikaru Han, to give some respectability to the final match score.

After being 8-4 up after the singles and doubles, Oakura may have thought "weve got this in the bag", going into the combines, but oh, how close it was.  Okaiawa siblings, Vincent and Jaimee Baylis came back from 8-3 down to snatch a thrilling 9-8 victory over Len Adamson and Chris Davies in the No3 combines to give their team a chance.  However, it was not to be, with Craig Waite and Miaana Walden's 9-0 win in their No 1combines, proving the deciding factor against Okaiawa's clean sweep of the other three combines.  The mens' singles and doubles were shared.  In the top singles, Graeme Mitchell (6-3 6-1) and Craig Waite (6-1 6-3) cruised past Andrew Powell and Mark Laurence respectively.  At  No.3 men's , Okaiawa's Vincent Baylis carried on his good form, dominating experienced veteran Len Adamson  6-2 6-4 and after a first set hiccup, Okaiawa's No. 4 Ryan Stockman tamed young firebrand Cory Sutherland 4-6 6-4 6-4.  Mitchell and Waite easily won the top men's doubles; while Adamson and Sutherland fought  from a set down to win the bottom men's doubles 3-6 6-17-6.  Okaiawa's Amelia Weir converted a great 6-2 2-6 7-5 win over Miaana Walden, while big improver Jaimee Baylis at 3, had her first Soffe Cup win over Oakura's Chris Davies 6-4 6-1.  Oakura's Jackie Keenan at 2 and Rebecca Scott at 4 ,had easy 6-1 6-1 and  6-1 6-0 wins over Jo Gyde and Shannon O'Brien.  Both womens doubles went to Oakura 6-0 6-4 and 6-4 7-5.