Pukekura off to convincing start
With both sides missing top players, Pukekura proved too strong for Rotokare in the opening round of the Soffe Cup tennis competition.
Stepping into the No.1 spot, Pukekura’s Brady Simpson was easily accounted for by his opposite Ben Crowley in straight sets, 6-2 6-1.
David Barnard evened things up with his 7-5 6-0 win over Rotokare’s Scott Campbell, and with Michael Erb and Meto Snegirev beating Shane Devlin and Rhys Sutton respectively, Pukekura took firm control of the fixture.
In the women’s matches, Nikayla Barnard, one of Taranaki’s most promising juniors, showed consistent maturity in closing out her singles duel with Chantelle Peters 6-1 6-0, while Ella Rogers was also too strong for Tania Atkinson 6-2 6-0.
After a slow start, Linda Reid came back to topple Julie Foley in three sets, 4-6 6-1 6-1, with Caitlin Haylock also claiming victory for Pukekura.
After claiming all but one of the singles matches, Pukekura were again too strong in the doubles, winning six of eight to run away with an opening round 13-3 win.
As predicted, Pihama and Stratford played out the match of the round, with the latter grinding out a 9-7 victory.
Pihama dominated the men’s fixtures, with Rob Haveswood, Kyle Crowley, Sean Edmonds and James Padilla all winning.
However Stratford returned serve in the women’s singles, with Lynn Stanners, Katie Stanners, Kirsten Lourie and Courtney Tippet evening things up with wins of their own.
Neither side could find an advantage in the doubles, and it came down to the mixed doubles to find a winner, with Stratford getting the better of Pihama for a hard-fought win.
In the final match of the round, Oakura cruise past Okaiawa/Manaia on their way to a 12-4 win.
The men shared the points as Okaiawa/Manaia’s Mark Laurence got the better of Andrew Hood 6-1 2-6 6-1, and Vince Baylis toppled Len Adamson 6-0 6-1; while Oakura’s Matt Stringer beat Josh Murdoch 6-4 6-2 and Sammy Lewis eased past Ryan Stockman 6-1 6-3.
Oakura’s women were too strong for their counterparts, claiming all four singles matches as well as both doubles matches.
While the men’s doubles were split at one a piece, the women had laid the platform for an Oakura win, and closed it out by winning three of the four mixed doubles matches.