Tasman Pine take out Nelson tennis title
Tasman Pine have ended Nelson Lawns’ five-year dominance with victory in the Nelson men’s interclub tennis final on Tuesday.
Despite Tasman’s 5-1 winning scoreline, the games were fiercely contested and much closer than the final score suggested.
In the doubles, the Nelson Lawns pair of Paul Muncaster and Jamie Marwick settled quickly to dominate the first set against Tasman’s James Hunt and Oscar Symonds with accurate serve and volley combinations.
However, Hunt and Symonds turned the tables in the second set, slowing the pace down and picking their winning shots before winning the third set tie-break and the match 2-6 6-3 7-6.
James Brown and Michael Lams won the second doubles 6-2 6-4 for Tasman but had to dig deep in the second set to combat the subtle drop shots and accurate slices served up by Steve Molnar and Sterling Cathman.
The top singles produced a tight 7-6 6-7 (10-6) win for Hunt over Muncaster as both displayed an array of skills ranging from deep powerful forehands to gentle adept lobs.
Hunt moved the ball from side to side, accurately hugging the line, while Muncaster defended everything and consistently returned the ball to challenge Hunt with lengthy baseline rallies.
In an equally close match between the No 2 players, Symonds sneaked home 6-3 3-6 7-6 against Marwick.
Molnar played consistently against Lams to win 6-1 6-4, while Brown took the No 3 match against Cathman 6-1 6-1 in a contest where the result didn’t reflect the play.