Tennis: Balmacewen opens gap

Balmacewen men put a break on the field when Dunedin premier club tennis resumed on Tuesday night, with a 4-2 win over closest rival Eastern Harbour.

The feature of the tie was the reappearance of national junior champion Libby Scott (Balmacewen), in the men's competition.

She found the variations and subtleties of Alan de Zwart (43), the former Canterbury player, rather different and went down 6-3 6-0.

No 1 Conrad Wong was too quick for Masters Games gold medallist Ken Thomson, winning 6-3 6-2, and newcomer Andrew Hilliard beat Law Liu 6-0 6-2 to give Balmacewen its two singles wins.

Phil Mirfin (Harbour) was down 3-5 and 15-40 against Hee Bum Chung in the second set but recovered well to win.

Balmacewen won both the deciding doubles, although Wong and Scott were taken to three sets by Thomson and de Zwart.

Taieri registered its first win, with new No 1 Randolph Kirk beating Otago stalwart Jeff Elliotte (St Clair) 6-3 6-4 and Bryan Hansen and Andrew Malloch taking lower order singles wins, after losing the doubles.

Darryl Paterson outlasted Andrew Mitchell, and partnered Elliotte to a top doubles win, but Taieri had a set to spare on countback.

Mornington-Roslyn Raiders beat the Mornington-Roslyn Privateers 6-0.

Dwayne Cleugh warmed up for this weekend's Otago Open by beating Oliver Scott 6-0 6-3.

St Clair teenagers Sian English and Georgia Hume retained the women's lead, beating Mornington-Roslyn 3-0, and Balmacewen beat Eastern Harbour 3-0, Brittany Wong to the fore.