Rennie cleans up Guthrie in all-Andersons Bay tie

Ayesha Horley
Ayesha Horley
The Andersons Bay derby was a surprisingly one-sided encounter in division one interclub play on Saturday.

A clean sweep of matches to the club's Rennie team gave it early bragging rights at the Bay clubhouse.

However, Laura Hamilton showed good form for the Guthrie side as she pushed Otago Open titleholder Ayesha Horley to 6-4, 6-2 in the top women's singles.

Mya Haigh and Angela Fitzgerald were locked in a tight battle at 4-4 in the first set when Fitzgerald was forced to retire hurt with a leg complaint.

No3 Makayla Ramage downed Phillipa Lyes 3-3, 6-3 by playing smart, consistent tennis and chasing down many wide balls.

In the men's competition, Phil Mirfin declined to roll out the red carpet for the return of Carlos Reid to the club scene.

However, Reid's edge in power become more pronounced as the match wore on and he took the match 6-3, 6-2.

Mike Smith was a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Anthony Mirfin and showed his experience at the end of each set.

Double faults were a problem for the younger Mirfin, but it was tough in gusty conditions.

The Mirfins combined in the men's doubles but could not secure a consolation rubber for Guthrie, succumbing 6-3, 6-3 to Smith and Reid.

Across the fence, Green Island was looking to upset the applecart by downing competition leader Balmacewen.

The match of the tie was between Jordyn Phillips and Charlotte Byers in the No2 women's singles.

Phillips was expected to mix it up against her attacking opponent and duly took the first set, played in windier conditions than the rest of the encounter, 6-2.

As the breeze subsided, the odds turned in favour of Byers and her strong baseline game.

She began to paint the lines more regularly and finished off the second stanza strongly with a break of serve.

Moving into the deciding super tiebreak, matters were evenly poised at 8-8 when Byers knuckled down to produce some error-free tennis and take the match 10-8.

In the other women's singles, Ilana Goossens pushed Mackenzie Phillips harder than the 6-1, 6-1 score would suggest while Andrea King used her off forehand to good effect in a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Phoebe Guile-Hughes.

The men's singles was a clean sweep for Balmacewen.

Only Max Gaffaney was pushed beyond the loss of four games in his 6-2, 6-4 result over Green Island captain Zane Gray.

Jack Warner subdued the serving prowess of Mat McCutcheon in a 6-3 6-1 win, while Nick Cutfield mopped up the tail in the form of Eli Newall, who nevertheless acquitted himself well in his first division one appearance this season.

With the tie decided in Balmacewen's favour before the rain arrived, the doubles rubbers were mainly of academic interest.

McCutcheon and Gray enjoyed the indoor conditions of the Edgar Centre and combined to push Warner and Cutfield to a third set.

The Phillips sisters got one back for Green Island as Balmacewen ran out the winner 7- 2.

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