Doubles save Manawatu’s bacon
At 8-4 down after the singles matches in Manawatu’s Christie Cup defence against Taranaki, things were looking dire.
But a heroic effort in the doubles rescued the game for Manawatu and they came back to win 13-11 and hold onto the challenge cup at Manawatu Lawn Tennis Club on Sunday.
Taranaki would have almost thought they had won the cup after they had dominated the singles matches, winning five of the men’s matches and three of the women’s.
But Manawatu, with two doubles specialists in the team, came home to bring the score to 10-8 in Taranaki’s favour after the doubles, then clinched the win by winning five of the six combined doubles matches.
‘‘If we ever had any chance it’s in the singles normally,’’ men’s No 5 Jono Spring said. ‘‘We just had really solid doubles combinations. We had no idea we would do as well.’’
Manawatu’s big-name reinforcements, Victor Romero at No 1 and Kurt Mcnamara at No 2, were beaten by Ajeet Rai and Jordan Fleming respectively.
The one men’s singles win came through No 3 Kieren Rooney, who beat Amrit Rai in two sets.
Women’s No 2 Bridget Dickins had a win over Alice Caskey, while Hannah Sutherland-smith had a win at No 5 and Rebekah Leungwai won at No 6.
In the doubles, Manawatu won four out of the six matches, two in the men’s and two in the women’s.
Mcnamara and Rooney, and Spring and Benedict Grant had wins. Then in the women’s Dickins and Sam Rowe, and Natalie Dean and Ella Wells had wins.
Then it came to the mixed doubles and Manawatu shone.
Romero and Williams teamed up to beat Ajeet Rai and Nikayla Barnard, Spring and Dickins beat Amrit Rai and Michaela Spurdle, Rooney and Rowe won, doubles specialists Deans and Toland won and in the last game Benedict Grant and Sutherland-smith won in a third-set super tiebreak.
The last two doubles wins, coming from Spring and Dickins and Grant and Sutherland-smith, were the two that got Manawatu across the line when the match was still in the balance at 11-all overall.
As when Manawatu won the trophy against Wanganui two weeks ago, Dickins won all three of her matches.
This is Manawatu’s first reign in five years and they will now keep it until next season.
The Manawatu B team also won 20-4, reversing their fortunes from recent years.