Alex Low and Rebecca Dellaway claimed the Otago Open tennis titles in similar fashion in Dunedin yesterday.
Both raced through an easy first set of their finals with a series of attacking winners, then lost the second set, before pulling themselves together to finish strongly.
Low, seeded second, and twice previously runner-up, finally got his name on the trophy. He has been a strong contributor to Otago tennis since arriving from Nelson for tertiary study.
He beat top seed Ryan Geerdink, who arrived recently from the Netherlands and was previously unbeaten in Dunedin. The score was 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Dellaway, seeded third, looked to be in the zone as she ran through the first set 6-1, with many rallies ending with a winner. She added a crosscourt backhand weapon to her usual strong forehand.
Opponent Jessie Stevenson fought back and managed to force some errors while winning the second set 6-2, but Dellaway (15) upped her pace again and finished with several unreturnable drives to win the decider 6-3.
The men's semifinals began sensationally when juniors Paddy Ou and Carlos Reid dominated the first sets against the higher seeded Geerdink and Low respectively.
Ou raced through the first set 6-1, only to go down 3-6, 2-6 in the next two as his opponent began to find his mark.
The powerful Reid lost only four points in the first set against Low to take it 6-0, but he fell into errors as Low varied his game after a thoughtful set break and Low won the next two sets 6-4, 6-3. Ou went on to beat Reid 6-1, 7-6 in a playoff for third place.
Giantkiller Meg Timu (14) had eliminated North Otago No 1 Nicky Wallace, then fourth seed Annabelle Ecroyd in straight sets for a semifinal spot, but was outhit by Stevenson 6-2, 6-0.
Dellaway used her forehand to good effect to overcome Auckland student and second seed Harriet Dorrington 6-4, 6-3.
The men's doubles final was won by Geerdink and Darryl Paterson, who beat Jeff Elliotte and Andrew Mitchell 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 in an entertaining final played indoors.
Paterson had twice previously been a finalist in both singles and doubles but this was his first Otago Open title.
Debby Stevens retained her women's doubles title, playing with new partner Georgia Rooney, a Nelson student. Rooney's sharpness at the net was complemented by Stevens' firm serves and ground strokes.
They beat Wallace and Dorrington 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.
