Doubles proved decisive in two close men's semifinals in Dunedin club tennis on Saturday.
In the major semi, Balmacewen, despite the loss of Conrad Wong and Hee Bum Chung recently, held on to take the direct route to next Saturday's final by beating Mornington-Roslyn Black 4-2.
Mornington was without Southland No 1 Oliver Cuthill but Oliver Reid and Adam Williams took singles wins matched by Andrew Hilliard and Rob McGavin for Balmacewen.
With the doubles deciding the tie, Balmacewen won both in straight sets. This leaves Mornington-Roslyn to play on Wednesday night for its second life.
The other semifinal, which was sudden death, was more dramatic.
Four of the rubbers went to three sets and two required a tiebreak finish, but Eastern Harbour came out a 4-2 winner in a tense finish against Mornington-Roslyn Blue.
Campbell Higgins came from a set down to beat Shaun Paringatai 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Ryan Eggers beat Scott Campbell 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 to set Harbour on the way.
Tom Beamish beat Nick Hume 6-2, 6-4 then Matt Foo outlasted a cramping Phil Mirfin 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 in over two and a-half hours. The match had many twists but youth prevailed at the end of a stern workout.
Eastern Harbour won the bottom double 6-2, 6-3 but still needed to win at least a set in the top double. Higgins and Mirfin fell behind losing the first set 2-6 and Mirfin was struggling physically, but in a dramatic turnaround, Harbour willed itself to a second set 6-4 win and, though facing a matchpoint in the third set, fought back to take the final tiebreak 12-10 and stay alive for another sudden death tie on Wednesday.
The women's semifinals, by contrast, were one-sided with highly-favoured Eastern Harbour and Balmacewen to meet next weekend after easy 3-0 wins.
Georgia Hume and Debbie Cartwright dropped only six games in taking Harbour past Eastern Harbour/Country while Jessie Stevenson and Pauline Hobbhahn won their three in straight sets against St Clair.
