Boon Huxtable plays a backhand volley while teammate Rhys Hooper watches. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV
TENNIS
CHRIS COGDALE
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Masterton Blue were crowned Shirley Corlett Trophy winners on Friday night, but it took until the doubles to secure their second consecutive title with victory over Masterton White at the Trust House Masterton Tennis Centre.
Boon Huxtable and Rhys Hooper’s closest competition throughout the Wairarapa Tennis pre-Christmas interclub championship had come from their clubmates Kelby Courtney and Liam Kerr, and that proved the case again in the decider.
Huxtable easily accounted for Courtney at the top of the order in straight sets 6-1 6-3, only for Kerr to even the tie with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of Hooper in the number two singles.
In their previous clash, Courtney and Kerr had forced a super tiebreaker in the doubles, but this time it was all one-way traffic as Huxtable and Hooper cruised to victory in straight sets 6-2 6-3.
Huxtable was dominant throughout the championship and did not drop a set in the singles, whereas Hooper’s only defeats came against Kerr, who was unbeaten in singles. The pair were also unbeaten in doubles over the seven-week championship.
The Masterton team of Hilda Holman and Netia Morison made no race of the women’s final, beating a young Martinborough Two side 3-0.
The tie was all wrapped up after Holman beat Alice Whitaker 6-4 6-2 at the top of the order, and Morison defeated Elizabeth Whitaker 6-2 7-6 in a close second singles.
Holman and Morison completed the clean sweep with a 6-2 6-3 victory in the doubles.
The interclub season will take a break until late January, when the more traditional four-men and two-women format will commence.
