Teenagers ruled the courts at the Otago indoor open this weekend.
The men's title went to Daiki Naka and the women's was won by Jessie Stevenson (both 17). Naka beat Paddy Ou (16) 6-3, 7-5 in a final where he was always slightly ahead in terms of pace and on the scoreboard, while Stevenson was far too steady for Nicky Wallace in her 6-3, 6-0 win.
The drama started for the men on Saturday, when all four top seeds were toppled in the quarterfinals, and all went down to players still at school.
The winter training and hard recent match play for the juniors saw not only top seed Vaughan Kingi (Canterbury) beaten by Ou in straight sets, but Kyu Kim, the seventh seed, beat Aucklander Aaron Hicks, the third seed, and unseeded Carlos Reid put out Durdamya Munibhargav, the fourth seed from Auckland.
Naka, the fifth seed, beat his Canterbury club-mate Ben Johnston, seeded second. Kingi was generous in his praise of Ou, who beat him 6-3, 6-4.
''He played really well and looked comfortable out there, even when I had him down 4-1 in the second. He just kept going for everything, and then he had the game to finish it,'' he said. The semifinals featured three players from John McGlashan College.
Naka was too powerful and consistent for Reid, winning 6-3, 6-1. His big forehand ended many points and his superior court speed pressured Reid into errors.
Ou beat Kim 6-1 in the first set, but Kim fought back to take the second. At this point he offered an injury default to Ou, but continued in discomfort to avoid the need to also default the doubles. The third set was 6-0 to Ou.
Earlier, in the women's draw, Debby Stevens put out the third seed Rebecca Dellaway in three sets and went on to lead Stevenson 3-0 before Stevenson found her range and outlasted her. The score was 6-3, 6-1.
Wallace beat Heike Cebulla-Elder 6-2, 6-2 to make the final. The men's doubles went to Naka and Reid, who beat Ou and Kim 6-3, 7-6 in a match of exciting rallies and some brutal forehands from Naka.
The women's doubles final was won by Stevens and Emma Hilder, who were more consistent in the vital third set tiebreak.
