Ed Wilkie teamed up with his brother Chris in the Shirley Corlett Trophy. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
TENNIS
JAKE BELESKI
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Martinborough may have swept through last year’s Shirley Corlett Trophy regional one tennis competition unbeaten, but Opaki have ensured that will not be the case this season.
Each Shirley Corlett Trophy match-up consists of two players per team, who play two singles matches and a doubles match between them.
Martinborough won all three matches against Greytown in round one, while Opaki and Gladstone were set to play their round one fixture on Tuesday night, after inclement weather had forced a postponement on the scheduled day.
In round two last week, it was Opaki against Martinborough and Greytown taking on Carterton.
Opaki’s Chris Davidson and Duncan Oakley had the tough task of playing Martinborough brothers Chris and Ed Wilkie.
Things started positively enough for Martinborough, with Chris beating Davidson 6-2 6-2 in the first singles match.
Oakley proved too strong for Ed in the other singles match, eventually winning 7-5 7-5 in a tight contest.
It came down to the doubles match to decide who would win the tie, and it was a match that could easily have gone either way.
Davidson and Oakley took the first set 7-6, with the brothers bouncing back to claim the second set 6-2.
The third and deciding set came down to a tie-breaker, and Davidson and Oakley won it to take the set 7-6.
The result gave Opaki three competition points, while Martinborough secured one point for Chris’s win over Davidson.
A retirement and a default ensured Greytown did not have to work too hard for their round two victory over Carterton.
Greytown’s Henry Isaacs took on Andi Steinemann of Carterton in the first singles match, eventually winning 6-2 6-3.
It was then Matthew Heard’s turn to represent Greytown as he took on Marcus Laing, and the match was evenly poised at 5-7 3-1, before Laing had to retire which handed Heard the win.
Isaacs and Heard won the doubles match by default as a result of Laing’s withdrawal, and claimed four valuable competition points from winning all three matches in the tie.
Martinborough lead the competition on five points, followed by Greytown [4], Opaki [3], Carterton [0] and Gladstone [0], although Martinborough and Greytown have played an extra round of matches, and those standings do not take into account Tuesday night’s match between Opaki and Gladstone.
Round three will take place this Saturday at Gladstone, with Opaki taking on Greytown and Gladstone up against Carterton.
