Former Otago player Dianne Hollands has dropped only one game
on her way to the semifinal of the New Zealand Championships
in Albany. Today, she faces in-form national junior champion
Paige Hourigan (Wanganui), a player many are expecting to
follow Marina Erakovic on the professional road. Hollands has
pursued a college career with great success in the United
States, but struggled in the cutthroat professional circuit
subsequently.
Hourigan won her first two matches easily before coming from
a set down to beat third seed Abigail Guthrie in the
quarterfinals. Queenstown's Louise Oxnevad could not continue
her giant-killing run after putting out second seed Tracey
O'Connor 6-1, 6-4 in the second round, losing 6-3, 6-1 to
Kataraina Hunia in the quarterfinals. Like many of the
players this week, Oxnevad is on a tennis scholarship
semester break. Former national junior champion Hunia is now
based in Australia. Ben McLachlan, another product of
Queenstown, lost to top seed Dan King-Turner 6-2, 6-4 in the
quarterfinals, but had good wins over Olly Sadler and Dan
Davies in earlier rounds.
His brother, Riki, won a round before losing to former Davis
Cup squad member Adam Thompson 6-4, 6-4. The McLachlan
brothers, who play doubles for Berkeley, have reached the
final of that event without dropping a set and meet third
seeds Jaden Grinter and Adam Lee in the final. Grinter and
Lee eliminated top seeds Artem Sitak and Sebasian Lavie in
the semifinals.
Otago Open champion Libby Scott, also on a tennis
scholarship, lost to seventh seed Imogen Golder after beating
Lana Popovich but, partnered by Heidi Stewart, made it to the
doubles semifinal before losing to top seeds Guthrie and Emma
Hayman.
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