Boon Huxtable finished the pre-Christmas interclub unbeaten. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV
TENNIS
CHRIS COGDALE
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Masterton and Martinborough are the Wairarapa pre-Christmas interclub champions after two tense finals on Friday night.
Masterton won the Shirley Corlett Trophy for the men’s championship with a 3-0 win over Martinborough One, and Martinborough won the women’s trophy with a 2-1 victory over St Matthew’s Collegiate.
Masterton had dominated the round-robin in the men’s competition and were hot favourites to lift the trophy but were pushed all the way by a game Martinborough.
Although all three matches were won in straight sets, the scores were close, and the matches were tightly fought.
Former highly ranked Auckland junior Boon Huxtable has been mainly untroubled in his singles matches throughout the season, but he faced a determined opponent in the experienced Chris Wilkie.
The first set was decided in a tiebreaker, before Huxtable claimed the victory, taking the second set 6-4.
Rhys Hooper stepped into the number two role for Masterton, with the absence of Chad Parson, and made sure of the title with an upset 2-0 win over Marco de Groot, who is ranked two grades higher.
With the outcome of the championship decided, the result of the doubles was academic. Despite that the match was keenly fought, with Huxtable and Hooper prevailing over Wilkie and de Groot 6-4 7-5.
The women’s final between Martinborough and St Matthew’s was decided in the doubles, after the singles were shared.
Martinborough’s Katherine Jacobs won the battle of the number ones with Emily Stewart-Wells, coming from a set down to win 10-5 in the super tiebreaker.
Ruby Kyle also needed a super tiebreaker to even the scores for St Matt’s, beating Martha Wojcikowski 10-5, to send the tie to the doubles’ decider.
Jacobs and Karen Delahunty made no race of the doubles, claiming the title with an easy straight-sets win of Stewart-Wells and Kyle.
Wairarapa Tennis interclub will take a break over the Christmas period, and resume with the traditional four men and two women format in late January.
BRIEF SCORES
Shirley Corlett Trophy final
Masterton 3 Martinborough One 0 [Boon Huxtable beat Chris Wilkie 7-6 6-4, Rhys Hooper beat Marco de Groot 6-3 6-4, Huxtable and Hooper beat Wilkie and de Groot 6-4 7-5].
Women’s final
Martinborough 2 St Matthew’s 1 [Katherine Jacobs beat Emily Stewart-Wells 1-6 7-6 10-5, Martha Wojcikowski lost to Ruby Kyle 1-6 7-6 5-10, Jacobs and Karen Delahunty beat Stewart-Wells and Kyle 6-3 6-0].
