It took until the last round of matches to decide the winner of the Shirley Corlett Trophy for the first half of the Wairarapa Tennis Regional One interclub competition.
Martinborough went into the last two matches of the final round played at the Dry River red clay courts on Saturday needing at least one win from Chris or Ed Wilkie to lift the trophy, and in the end, both prevailed.
Chris Wilkie wrapped up the championship, beating Ōpaki’s new acquisition, Alex Randall, 4–1 4–2, while Ed Wilkie came from a set down to edge Matt Spooner from Carterton 2–4 4–2 10–4.
The wins gave Martinborough a four-point margin over Dry River, with Carterton third and Ōpaki fourth.
Dry River’s Niel Hendriks completed an unbeaten competition in the singles, although he was pushed all the way by Ed Wilkie before winning 4–1 2–4 10–8. He then dispatched Randall 4–1 4–0. Clubmate Jacob Emery also had two wins, beating Spooner 5–4 5–3 and Chris Wilkie 4–0 4–1.
In other division one results, Ed Wilkie defeated Randall 4–1 5–3, and Spooner edged Chris Wilkie 4–0 3–5 10–8.
Division two was dominated by Martinborough’s Quintin Larkin, who picked up three valuable wins for his team. Chris Davidson and Duncan Oakley both had two wins for Ōpaki, and Lily Williams [Ōpaki] and Josh Crabb [Dry River] both had one victory.
Shirley Corlett Trophy
Final Points
Martinborough 106, Dry River 102, Carterton 73, Ōpaki 62.
The pre-Christmas portion of the season concludes with the North vs South fixture at Martinborough on Saturday.
Masterton Seniors Tournament
Nearly 120 players converged on the Trust House Masterton Tennis Centre for the 60th anniversary Masterton Seniors Tournament.
Men’s and women’s doubles were played on Saturday, which also featured the cutting of the anniversary cake, and mixed doubles were played on Sunday.
Tournament debutants Julie Scott and Weiwei Verran from Lower Hutt caused the upset of Saturday’s women’s doubles, beating defending champions Tania Martin [Hutt Valley] and Jane Wyllie [Hawke’s Bay].
The father and son pairing of Kevin and Ryan Wilson took out the A1 men’s doubles from Allen Hokai and Andrew Reynolds, and in Sunday’s mixed doubles, Martin and Simon Osborne won the A1 final over Mareta Patterson and Allen Hokai.
The Ōpaki combination of Belinda Day and Matt Bunny were the only locals to win their mixed doubles B1 division, beating Julie Foley [Masterton] and Dwayne Richardson [Manawatu] in the final.