All ties were closely fought in Dunedin men's club tennis on Saturday, but the feature saw Taieri lose for the first time in more than a season.
It took a countback on sets then games before St Clair edged in by two games, after last week's comeback star Mitchell Sizemore did it again, claiming his first win over Carlos Reid in 16 attempts in a marathon three setter to seal the win.
As happened last week, Sizemore would not go away after being down 6-4-and 5-1. Facing a match point at 3-5, he watched Reid hit a volley long by a few centimetres. Sizemore levelled at 5-all and 6-all, then finished strongly from 5-all in the tiebreak to take it 7-5.
At 3-5down in the third, Reid suffered cramp but showed grit to save two match points at 15-40. However, a limp double fault at the next opportunity handed over the set 3-6-and a two game margin for St Clair.
Earlier, Graeme Clark (Taieri) took the long road to a 3-6, 7-6, 7-6-win against veteran Robin Versteeg, but Darryl Paterson helped the games ratio by dismissing Tony Ryder 6-1, 6-1.
The doubles, played first, had been shared, but games picked up by Sizemore and Damian Hill proved vital, as hot favourites Reid and Paterson struggled to put them away 7-6, 6-4. Ryder and Versteeg's winning 7-6, 6-1 was also valuable.
The Tertiary Club beat Balmacewen Federer 4-2 but were aided by Nick Cutfield having to retire with hamstring damage, although leading 4-1 at the time. Aaron Hicks and Albie Hailes did a short clean sweep of the upper order but Fraser Richardson won three set singles and doubles, partnering Matt McCutcheon, to gain Balmacewen's points.
Balmacewen Djokovic beat Eastern Harbour 4-2 and revealed two new talents in Henry Neas, a student from Nelson, and Jay Barclay, from Auckland. Both won their singles comfortably against Henry Hailes and Christiaan Faber respectively, but both are set to leave Dunedin in a few weeks.
The top singles saw Paddy Ou beat Ryan Eggers 6-2, 6-4 in a match of many long rallies and was a reverse of the result in the Otago Indoor Open. Newcomer Danny Fridberg took Harbour's only singles point while Eggers and Faber upset Neas and Ou in the top double in a minor surprise by 6-3, 6-4.
