17 October 2011

Oakura's Poppy Mitchell was the sole Taranaki girl to travel down to Palmerston North to play in the Tennis Manawatu Spring Open.  Winning her first round of the girls 12s, Mitchell went on to the Quarter Finals to meet 3rd seeded Arapera Tapiata (Manawatu).  Tapiata won the match 4-1 4-1.  In the boys 10s Caleb Fleming (Pukekura) advanced to the Quarter Finals to face Thomas Hartono of Otago.  Fleming and Hartono both held their serves and had some great rallies.  The match eventually came to a Tie Breaker with Hartono winning 7-6 (7-4).  Jeremy Gopperth (Manaia) played the final of the consolation draw.  Gopperth lost the match to Feilding junior Kurt Amey 4- 1 4-2.  Fleming and Gopperth then combined to play in the doubles advancing past the 2nd seeded pairing of Isaac Hinton and Louie Pratt both from Hawkes Bay (7-1), however, falling short at the final losing to the top seeds James Wallace and Matthew Harrison (Wellington) 7-0.

Un-seeded Brady Simpson (Pukekura) advanced all the way to the Semi-finals of the boys 14 to meet Bernard Van Der Spuy losing the match 7-1.  On the way he beat the 4th seeded Trent Massam (Wellington) 7-2.   Okaiawa’s Hamish Mead lost his quarter finals match to the 2nd seeded Charlie Hudson (Kapi Mana) 7-6 6-2.   The match to watch for the Taranaki supporters was Cole Hareb (Rotokare) when he took on Keiren Rooney of Fielding.  Rooney was 3rd seed for the tournament, yet Cole showed great grit and determination.  His timing and effort that he put into every shot paid off taking Rooney to a third set tie-breaker.  Rooney won the match 4-2 0-4 (10-6). 
In the doubles, Hareb and Meads joined forces to advance to the Semi's where they lost to 2nd seed pairing of Calvin Harrison (Wellington) and Bernard Van Der Spuy (Manawatu) 7-1.  Brady Simpson and partner Guy Lewis (Wairarapa) played in the final of the Consolation Draw.  They lost the match to Andrew Loads and Nyle Maddock-Hubbard (both from Manawatu) 7-1.