Action aplenty at Rapaura courts
The boys' division of the Rapaura junior champs was hotly-contested. Photo supplied.
A full field of mixed combinations is set to kick start the traditional Wairau River Rapaura doubles tennis tournament from January 3-5.
Action at the historic grass courts will begin with the mixed event on Friday, which will once again boast a maximum entry of 24.
Ella Sowman and Dan Clarke are back to defending the title they won in the previous event but will have strong opposition from the combinations of Lee Harborne and Christine Schnarre, plus Donna Clark and Stu Campbell. Nelson visitors Ruth Seeman and Oscar Symonds will also be tough to beat along with a couple of strong pairs for down south.
At the time of writing 24 men's and 15 women's pairs had registered for the men’s and women’s doubles tournament on Saturday and Sunday.
Although organisers say numbers are in line with the last few years, they are still keen to get a couple more participants, with entries taken until Wednesday evening.
The main sponsor is Wairau River with support from Spring Creek Four Square, Bayleys and Clarke Construction.
Junior action
Meanwhile, action at Rapaura began on Sunday when the club hosted the Mitchell Sports junior doubles tournament in scorching heat.
Twenty-three pairs of all ages took the court, in between devouring cooling ice blocks.
Games were played over five divisions.
Winners of the boys’ title was the combination of Zihan Hong and George Scott from runners-up Lincoln Hantz and Aiden Su.
Organisers said the tournament produced some high-quality doubles on fast-paced grass courts, with close encounters ensuing in both title deciders.
The girls’ division provided a tense and dramatic round robin that came down to the last match, which ended in a final set tiebreak result, Zoey She and Chloe Su winning on a countback of sets. Joy Xu and Issy Cheung-Javeruk were runners up with Amy Watmough-Smith and Lily Wilkinson third.