27 Nov 2011
Saturday was the first matches in the second round of Soffe Cup interclub tennis and two of the matches had the same scoreline as the first round. Sandfords Manaia, despite being without their top woman Nicole Koch, their No 3 man Michael Gates and No 4 Tommy Death, prevailed over Farmlands Okaiawa 10-2 at Okaiawa. Manaia have opened up a 10 point lead over Pukekura on the points table and must be odds on favourites to retain the Cup.
The men's singles were all easy wins for Manaia but in the No 3 match, Beauden Fleming had a battle to beat Vincent Baylis 6-3 2-6 7-6 (10-8).
The women were equally dominant but Okaiawa's No1, Amelia Weir continued her great season by beating Sarah Kelly 6-3 6-2. Manaia's Maree Gopperth and Grace Kelly had easy wins over Jo Gyde and Jaimee Baylis whilst Neilsen was leading 7-5 5-0 when Shannon O'Brien retired hurt. O'Brien was also forced to default the mixed doubles match. Okaiawa's other win was by the Baylis siblings, VIncent and Jaimee, who beat Fleming and Grace Kelly 3-6 6-4 7-6.
Central Finance Rotokare and AWE Huatoki again coudn't be separated. Although their line-ups were different, the result was the same; a 6-6 draw at Rotokare. Huatoki and Rotokare's match was even throughout. In the mixed doubles, Huatoki's wins were by No.1's Amrit Rai and Alice Caskey 6-4 6-3 over Malcolm Elder and Tania L'Ami whilst Alistair Nairn and Chris Wilson beat Shane Devlin and Frances Gray 6-3 6-3. Rotokare's No 2 combo Blair Crowley and Karen Cranston beat Ajeet Rai and Sophie Robertson 6-1 7-5 and in the No 4 match Laurie Jordan and Juliet Farquar (Rotokare) won two tiebreakers in beating Ben Caskey and Lorraine Heerdegen 7-6 7-6.
Huatoki won all the men's singles, led by the Rai brothers. Amrit won in three sets over Elder, 3-6 6-1,7-6 and Ajeet had no trouble dispatching Crowley 6-3 6-1. Nairn won a tight match over Devlin 7-6 3-6 7-6 (12-10) while Caskey only dropped one game in beating Jordan. Rotokare's women were dominant over Huatoki, winning all the matches although the no 3 and 4 matches were won in three sets. L'Ami improved from her tight encounter with Caskey in the first round, winning 6-4 6-3. No 3 Gray beat Wilson 6-3 4-6 7-6 (12-10) and No 4 Farquar beat Heerdegen 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10-7).
Icon Sports Tariki Pukekura were too strong for Hareb Deken Oakura winning 9-3 at Pukekura. Oakura gained two matches from the first round clash when they were beaten 11-1. Although their No 1 Graeme Mitchell returned to the side they were outclassed by Pukekura. No 1 Callum Old had a good win over Mitchell 6-4 6-2 and the No 3 and 4 Chris Jury and Jaime Simpson had similar scorelines over Tei Walden and Len Adamson. Oakura's Josh Walden beat Dennis Reid 6-2 6-4. In the women's matches Oakura's No1 Miaana Walden dominated Linda Reid 6-1 6-1 while the rest of the matches were easy wins for Pukekura. In the mixed doubles Pukekura won all but the No 4 match. Len Adamson and Chris Davies beat Simpson and Donna Thorne 6-2 7-5.
Soffe Cup Points
Sandfords Manaia 68, Icon Sports Tariki Pukekura 58, Central Finance Rotokare 42, AWE Huatoki 40, Hareb Deken Oakura 26, Farmlands Okaiawa 18
Results
Wilson Trophy
Oakura 8 Rotokare 4, Ecolab Manaia 7 McDonald Real Estate Matapu 5, Waiwaka 6 Inglewood 6, Thomson O'Neill Stratford 8 Icon Sport Tariki Pukekura 4
Sumpter Trophy
Hawera 12 Rotokare 0, Stratford 11 Waiwaka Blue 1, Pukekura 8 Waiwaka Green 4
Two 12 year olds, Ajeet Rai heads to Melbourne this week No1 in a three stong NZ 12s team to play in the trans - Tasman age group clash and Louise Waite (Highlands Intermediate) represents Taranaki at the North Island Primary Schools Tournament in Hamilton on Thursday and Friday.