Andy Bay Originals won a tight contest against Andy Bay Uni to finish top of the table in the Dunedin interclub competition on Saturday.
At the top men’s singles spot, Marwan Samy (Uni) took on Rafferty McIntosh, a match-up that went the distance in the previous meeting.
The first set featured Samy blasting winners from all parts of the court as he won it 6-0.
In the second set, McIntosh got into a rhythm and hung on to win 6-4.
In the match tiebreak, Samy got out to an early lead and never looked back as he won it and the match 6-0, 4-6, 10-4.
Tom Cairns made it 2-0 to Uni as he beat Anthony Mirfin 6-4, 6-4.
The last men’s singles had veteran Tony Ryder (Originals) using his experience to beat Danny Fridberg 6-2, 6-1.
The much-improved Billie Fraser (Originals) then evened up the tie at 2-2 as she beat Tessa Richardson 6-3, 6-3.
In the doubles, Samy/Cairns had a close straight-sets victory over McIntosh/Mirfin, 6-4, 7-6(4).
With the Originals down 3-2 and needing a straight-sets victory for the championship, Ryder/Fraser delivered in the mixed doubles, winning 7-5, 6-2.
In the other tie of the weekend, Balmacewen had a convincing 5-1 win over Taieri.
Erin O’Neill come back from a set down in the women’s singles match to beat Ella Richardson 4-6, 6-0, 10-3 and give Taieri a 1-0 lead.
From there, it was all Balmacewen as they won the remaining five matches in straight sets.
At the top men’s singles, Hugo Barsby continued his good form against most improved player candidate Connor Morrison, winning 6-1, 6-4.
In the last two singles, Gerard Farrell beat Andrew Mitchell 6-1, 6-2, and Nick Cutfield beat Eli Newall 6-0, 7-5.
With the tie sealed, Balmacewen kept the momentum rolling for the doubles.
Cutfield/Richardson played flawless tennis to beat O’Neill/Newall 6-2, 6-1, and Barsby/Farrell wrapped it up with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Mitchell/Morrison.
— Paddy Ou
