SOFFE CUP REVIEW

Sandfords Manaia (1) 14 Rotokare 2

Soffe Cup holders, Sandfords Manaia 1 had another emphatic win on Saturday, beating Rotokare 14-2 at Rotokare.
No 1 Jason Mills defeated Max Ladame 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, while No3 Alaister Murdoch had little trouble against David Geange 6-2, 6-4.
Rotokare secured the other two singles for it’s only two points of the day.
No 2 Mike Roberts beat Thomas Luxton 7-5, 6-1 while No 4 Chris Pulford had a tight battle before beating Micheal Gates 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.

Manaia’s No1 Nicole Koch defeated Leith Atkins 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 while No 2 and 3 Cindy Death and 3 Irene Cruikshank had easy wins over Michelle Atkins and Kane Murakami.
The No 4 match was decided in the third set tie-breaker, Manaia’s Ashlee Murdoch triumphed over Debbie Campbell 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.

The men’s doubles were closely fought two set matches but the rest of the matches were fairly easy wins for Manaia.

 

Pukekura 10 Midhirst 6

Pukekura had a battle at Midhirst before emerging the winner 10-6.  The scores were 5-3 to Pukekura after the singles.  Pukekura won all but the top men’s match.  Midhirst’s Chris Brown easily defeated Zac Wills 6-1, 6-2.
The women’s singles matches were shared.  Midhirst won both men’s doubles while Pukekura won both women’s doubles. 

With the scores 7-5 going into the combines, Midhirst needed to win all four to score an upset but Pukekura only dropped one match.
Pukekura’s No 3 Jeanette Harding was their player of the day, the only one to win all three matches.

 

Accent on Curtains Waiwaka 13 Stratford 3

Accent on Curtains Waiwaka had a 13 -3 win over Stratford at Waiwaka.  It wasn’t as easy as the result indicated with four three set tie – breakers which all went Waiwaka’s way.   Waiwaka were up 7- 1 after the singles, so the win was almost in the bag.

No 1 and 4, Aaron Hine and Tim Cleaver had easy two set wins over Gavin Phelan and Kevin Sullivan.   The middle matches were three setters.  No 2 Nick Creery defeated Bruce Cleland 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 while Pieter van der Kooij also came back from a set down to beat Grant Kite 2-6, 6-1, 7-6.

The top three Waiwaka women all won in two sets although the first set of each match was either 7-5 or 7-6. 
Stratford’s No 4 Tracey Zimmerman secured her team’s only singles victory with an easy win over Ana McSeveny.

The top doubles pairing of Hine and Creery had a three set win over Phelan and Cleland while the bottom women’s doubles pairing also had a three set battle.
The other two doubles matches were easy wins for Waiwaka.  The combined doubles was a 2-2 split.
Players to win all three for Waiwaka were Hine, Cleaver and top woman, 16 year old Clare Fairey.

 

Manaia (2) 11 Hawera 5

Against predictions, Manaia 2 defeated Hawera 11-5 at Manaia.   Manaia were ahead 5-3 after the singles.  No 1 Steven Lloyd has a three set win over Crichton Parker while No 2 Tony Boshier had an easy 6-0, 6-2 win over Stu Pennefeather. 

Hawera’s bottom pairing of Ross Hewitt and Mike Careswell won their matches against Kelvin Tosland and David Bayley.
Manaia won three of the women’s singles and continued it’s winning way, only dropping the bottom men’s doubles and No 2 combines matches.
Steven Lloyd, Abbey Death, Ginny Death and Clare Goldsworthy won all three matches.

 

After three rounds, the same clubs which have dominated the Soffe Cup competition for the last few seasons are again on top of the points table and have made a break on the rest of the field.  Manaia 1 has 42, Waiwaka 39 and Pukekura 34.  There is a big gap to fourth placed Rotokare on 26.