18 Mar 2006
Soffe Cup
Sandfords Manaia will be
chasing its seventh successive Soffe Cup title on Saturday after defeating
Midhirst 14-2 at Manaia. MIdhirst got off to a great start, capturing the
top two men's singles but that was when the winning stopped.
No 1, Jono Ussher handed
Jason Mills his first defeat fo the season with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 win. He must
be hugely satisfied with his season having only lost one singles, to Mills.
Next season he will be gunning for the top spot in the rep team.
Midhirst's No 2, Michael
O'Sullivan had a good win, defeating Thomas Luxton 6-4, 0-6, 7-6.
Five of the remaining
singles were easy wins for Manaia, Alaister Murdoch defeated Val Cleaver
6-2, 6-1 while Michael Gates beat Neil Kingston 6-4, 6-0. In the women's
matches, No 1, 2 and 4, Nicole Koch, Aleisha Ford and Davina Mills were not
troubled in thier matches against Lyn Stanners, Shelley Childs and Liz
O'Sullivan. In the No 3 match Cindy Death won 6-2, 7-6 over Marlene Foreman.
Mills and Luxton avenged
their singles defeat by beating Ussher and O'Sullivan 6-4, 7-6 in the
doubles.
At the Pukekura courts,
Hooker Pacific Pukekura are into the final with a thrilling come from behind
win( on countback) over Accent on Curtains Waiwaka. The match was tied 8 all
but Pukekura won 19 sets to 18. Thee was nothing separating the two New
Plymouth sides beginning with the singles being shared 4 all. The top two
matches were decided on third set tie-breaks with Pukekura's Zac Wills
defeating Aaron Hine 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 and Waiwaka's Chris Popata defeating Tony
Radich 6-4, 6-7, 7-6.
Waiwaka's No 3, David
Geange beat Ben Aves 7-5, 6-1 while Pukekura's Meto Snegirev had an easy
6-3, 6-0 win over Rhys Sutton.
Waiwaka's top two women,
Nicki Martin and Jayden Bruce upset Linda Reid and Donna Thorne, winning
6-4, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-2 respectively. Pukekura counteracted that with Kirsten
Adam and Jeanette Harding winning their matches against Glenda Frost and
Alison Chamberlain.
Waiwaka's men won both
their doubles matches in three sets while Pukekura's women won their's
easily. The women's doubles
wins were what turned
out to be the difference in the countback. Waiwaka were ahead 13 -11 in sets
before those matches.
In the combines, Waiwaka
won the No 1 and 3 matches while Pukekura won the other two.
It was fitting that,
with Pukekura trailing over all 7-8 , Captain Donna Thorne won her match
with Tony Radich 9-7 to secure the draw and ultimately the win.
Wilson Trophy
Top qualifier Okaiawa
stormed into the Wilson Trophy final with a resounding 13-3 win over
fourth placed Manaia at Hawera.
Okaiawa won seven out of
eight singles, in the top men's singles match Crichton Parker defeated
Kelvin Tosland 6-3,7-6 while the rest of the matches were easy wins. Andrew
Powell, Murray Mead and Andrew Baylis only dropped a handful of games
between them against Jacob Gopperth, Jordan Fleming and Craig Oakley. In the
women's matches, Megan Gyde, Michelle Powell and Clare Goldsworthy had
similar success against Ginny Death, Shinae Bailey and AJ Rowlands.
The only resistance from
Manaia was from the No 1 woman, Irene Cruikshank winning her singles, 6-0,
6-4 over Joanne Gyde and in the doubles she teamed up with Ginny Death to
defeat Joanne Gyde & Megan Gyde in three sets. Manaia's other win was in the
top combines match, Tosland and Death who triumphed 9-3 over Parker and
Joanne Gyde.
Third seed Huatoki upset
second seed Matapu 10-6 in the other semifinal played at Te Ngutu and Kapuni.
The singles were shared
4 all after Matapu won 3 men's and one women's. Huatoki's strength all
season has been their women, led by Saori Han and Janice Taylor. Winning
three singles and both doubles it meant they had a 7-5 lead going into the
combines.
The won the two
necessary to secure 9 wins and an unbeatable lead.
Sumpter
Trophy
Oakura 12.5 Waiwaka 3.5,
Okaiawa 14 Manaia (2) 2, Inglewood 11 Huatoki 5