Primary tennis titles decided
Kobe Hart is all concentration during Monday’s boys 7 and 8 division one final. Photo Peter Jones
A tightly-fought boys year 7&8 division one final provided a fitting climax for the annual Marlborough primary schools tennis tournament on Monday.
The popular event was contested across five divisions with the top seeds featuring during the title play-offs throughout.
Kobe Hart came out on top of an enthralling battle with Josh Harris to claim the boys 7&8 division one crown. After several breaks of serve either way the youngsters were tied at 8-8, necessitating a tiebreaker which Kobe won 7-3 to decide the title.
In the semifinals second-seeded Kobe beat Oliver Clarke 6-2, while top seed Josh downed Max Sowman 6-4. Max prevailed in the battle for third spot, downing Oliver 6-1.
The boys 7&8 division two title was won by top seed Cullum Rayner, who got the better of second seed Ryan Griffiths 6-2.
The boys 5&6 division was split into three groups for an initial round robin. The winners of each group then played each other in a deciding round robin, contested by Aiden Su, Joseph Gilhooly and Ben Cameron. Joseph came out on top, followed by Aiden then Ben.
Top seeds Mia Harris and Emily Preece contested the girls 7&8 final, which Mia took out 6-4. In the semis Mia beat Gussy Macfarlane 6-2 while Emily overcame Amelia Burra by the same score. Gussy won the battle for third, beating Amelia 6-3.
The final of the girls 5&6 grade was contested by sisters Zoey She and Joy Xu, with Zoey winning 9-3. In the semis she beat Amy Watmough-Smith 6-5, while Joy prevailed over Emmeline Walkenhorst 6-2. Amy won the battle for third place, prevailing 6-2 over Emmeline.