On Saturday, both Otago and Southern Lakes scored comfortable wins over Southland and North Otago.
Matches of the day included Jo Clarke’s (Southern Lakes) 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 win over Jordyn Phillips (North Otago), and Marshall McChlery’s (Southland) 6-3, 6-4 win over Ben Sinclair (Otago).
On Sunday, Southern Lakes and Otago clashed in the final once again.
Otago swept through the women’s singles thanks to some clinical performances from Charlie Byers, Natalie Hetherington, Aminah Ahmad and Makayla Ramage.
Byers was undefeated through the weekend and was reaping the benefits of consistent match play in the past few months.
The Southern Lakes men’s side of the three Milburns (Kai, Dan, Noa) and Lachie Hunt then evened things up by winning all four of their singles.
In a close tussle between No 3s Noa Milburn and Hugo Barsby, the former grabbed a crucial 6-0, 7-5 win.
In the top singles, Kai Milburn beat Paddy Ou 6-3, 6-1 as the former went through the whole event without dropping a set.
Going into the doubles, the tie was locked at 4-4 with Southern Lakes ahead by eight games.
In the top men’s doubles, Kai and Dan Milburn got the ball rolling for Southern Lakes by beating Gavin Mockford and Mat McCutcheon 6-2, 6-1.
In the top women’s doubles, Otago pulled one back as Byers and Ahmad took down Santisuk Marshall and Jo Clarke 6-0, 7-5.
The Southern Lakes bottom doubles pairing of Felicity Oxnevad and Karen Mitchell then claimed a decisive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Hetherington and Ramage.
For the last men’s doubles, Smith and Ou needed to drop only two or fewer games against Max Maclachlan and Hunt to win the tie.
In the end, the former managed a 6-4, 6-3 win, ultimately giving Southern Lakes a 6-6 countback win on games.
In the battle for third-fourth, North Otago came out firing to take down Southland.
South Canterbury imports Ryan Watt and Connor Brosnahan secured some vital wins for North Otago as they beat Tim Wilans and Ben Anderson in straight sets.
Belinda Hirst (North Otago) then claimed a clinical victory in straight sets over Erin O’Neil.
Hirst rolled back the years playing at No1 and lost only to Otago’s Byers during the weekend.
North Otago took all four doubles to eventually take the tie 10-2.
Round 2 of the event will be played in February next year.
— Paddy Ou
