Dan Mustapic and Marisa Jones recorded a comprehensive win in the New Zealand mixed doubles championship in Naseby recently.
This was the first time they had played together in the event, and the first mixed doubles title for either.
Mustapic won silver in 2009 and 2010, while Jones claimed bronze in 2011.
The triple knockout format included the winners meeting eventual silver medallists Bridget Becker and Scott Becker four times. Mustapic and Jones won three of those clashes.
All 14 teams started in pool A and remained there until their first loss, when they dropped to pool B.
After teams lost a second game they dropped to pool C, and after their third loss they were eliminated.
The first game between the Mustapic-Jones team and the Becker siblings came in the pool A final.
Mustapic and Jones scored four in the final end to secure the win 11-8.
In the pool B final, the Beckers met defending champions Natalie Thurlow and Hans Frauenlob.
The Becker team took charge in the second half to win 8-3.
The Beckers then met Mustapic and Jones again, handing them their only loss of the weekend.
But the tables were reversed in the following match, an 8-7 loss relegating the Beckers to pool C.
The Beckers won the pool C final, beating Kenny Thomson and Waverley Taylor, New Zealand's representatives at this year's world mixed doubles championship, 10-7.
That earned another crack at Mustapic and Jones, but the latter secured the win and the overall championship.
