Tennis finals go down to the wire

The Rapaura and Renwick tennis clubs dominated the top placings when the WK+ Marlborough Championship Interclub Competition wrapped up on Tuesday evening, March 3.

Finals in all four divisions were contested across three venues, with three of the deciders relying on a countback of games to confirm the overall victor.

The division one final was played at Rapaura and involved two sides from the host club. After four hard-fought matches and in fading light, Rapaura Masters defeated Rapaura Just Move by just a single game, prevailing 2-2 and 30-29 on countback.

Honours were relatively even after the opening men’s and women’s doubles clashes, the Masters duo of Jared Bell and Stu Campbell getting the better of Darin Herd and Mike Russell 9-5, while Just Move siblings Emily and Heidi Stenhouse accounted for Joey Beckett and Donna Clark 9-4.

The mixed clashes were also shared, the number one pairing of Jared and Donna beating Darin and Heidi 9-6 while Mike and Emily prevailed in a tiebreaker 9-8 (7-3) over Stu and Joey.

The division two final was played at the Forrest Wines Tennis Centre and saw Renwick Rookies take on Marlborough Red Rockets. This match was also tight, the Rookies coming through with a 2-2 (32-26) victory.

Rapaura was the setting for the third division decider, Rapaura Hakinakina defeating Renwick Re-Strung 2-2 (28-24) in another close encounter.

The final match was played on the Renwick courts, where Renwick Ball Busters capped off a top season by beating defeated Renwick BTL 3-1 in the division four final.