Premiership split into two

The Tennis Manawatu¯ premier interclub competition is under way. There has been a slight modification to the Wednesday evening competition, with team sizes being made smaller, although there has been an increase in the number of teams participating.

The premiership has also been divided into A and B sections, with premier A being the only grade competing for the Hudson Shield. Premier B will act as a development grade with players who are not quite at the top level of their clubs competing separately, but still alongside, their higher ranked players.

The premier A grade is full of current or past senior representative players and will provide a formidable competition where there will be no easy wins for at least 95 per cent of the players.

One player who may struggle to be pushed this season is new import Jennifer Green, who will hand out free learning opportunities to her competition this season.

In her two singles matches in the Manawatu¯ region so far, Green is yet to drop a game, having won her senior representative match 6-0, 6-0 as No 2 woman against Hawke’s Bay two weeks ago.

Green then backed that result up with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rebekah Leung Wai in the first interclub match of the season, as her Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club Chargers took on the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club Victory. We managed to scrape through, however, with three matches going to third-set tie-breaks.

The result could have gone either way, with my singles match going my way in a three-set thriller against former student, now colleague, Damien Silk.

Hannah Sutherland Smith also secured two third-set tie-break wins via a singles victory over Caleb Martin and then, combined with No 1 man Hamish Mead, to beat Silk and Matt Ward 11-9 in the 3rd. Victory went on to win 4-2.

In other matches, Feilding Yellow have taken an unassailable 5-0 lead over the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club All Stars, with the women’s singles yet to be played.

Court availability became the issue on the evening and the match between the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club’s Caroline Andrieux and Feilding’s Ella Marshall was delayed until tomorrow.

In the meantime, the Feilding men made light work in their singles matches, with Kurt Amey, Gareth Toland and Alex Evans all securing wins against Michael Harris, Andrew Tyler and Peter Thompson. The doubles also went Feilding’s way, even with a marathon match between Amey and Marshall against Harris and Andrieux, where the scorecard read 6-7, 7-6, 12-10.

In the final premier A match of the evening, Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club Contenders travelled to Feilding to take on Feilding Red. Manawatu¯ took the tie 5-1.

Terry Lee had a tough encounter with Feilding’s Caleb Young, but eventually came out on top in two sets. Feilding’s only win came from a Connor Backhouse victory over Manawatu¯ ’s No 2 man Mark Laurence.

After the first round, the Feilding Yellow team will head up the points table, regardless of the result from the women’s match.

Premier 2 was evenly contested throughout, but the standout team were the Manawatu¯ Lawn Tennis Club Cavaliers, who beat their Marist opposition 6-0. The matches were tightly contested, but the experience of the Manawatu¯ team made the difference in the end.

All junior and remaining senior grades begin their competition this weekend, so expect to see full tennis courts all day today around Manawatu¯ .