Paringatai makes impact in guest return for North Otago

Mitchell Sizemore
Mitchell Sizemore
The feature of Dunedin club tennis on Saturday was the successful return of  coach Shaun Paringatai as a guest player for North Otago when he beat Otago Open champion Charlie Tomlinson 6-4, 6-1 and led his team to a 4-2 victory over Taieri.

Paringatai had not been sighted in match play for  several years, but looked fit and keen and moved well as he pressured Tomlinson into errors, using a mixture of low sliding backhand slices and flat or topspin strokes, many finding their mark on a good length or fine placement.

Tomlinson’s best was very good but he bowed to pressure and showed inconsistency in the wind after spending last weekend on the indoor courts. He looked to have run out of ideas by the end.

Other winners for North Otago were Josh Dalziel and Mackenzie Phillips who won both singles and the bottom doubles.

Balmacewen beat St Clair 4-2 but  neither team was at full strength. After missing the Otago Indoor Open last weekend St Clair’s Mitchell Sizemore, the Otago  No1, looked short of match play and went down to Otago  No2 Paddy Ou, 4-6 3-6.

Sizemore broke early to lead 2-0 but Ou levelled at 4-4, held to go up 5-4, then broke serve with a lucky net cord followed by a limp double fault from Sizemore. The second  set produced  just the one break.

Henry Neas and Will Bourne were comfortable winners for Balmacewen but Warren Watson got one back for St Clair and  partnered Damian Hill for a short doubles win. However, when Balmacewen took the top double in a match tie break the winning margin was gained.

The Otago Boys’ tie was held over by mutual agreement until after the school holidays.

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