Players 'raring' to resume interclub early

Canterbury’s premier players could not be happier to get on court earlier than usual for the second round of the interclub competition.

Interclub is set to resume two weeks earlier than last season, with the women playing on Friday night and the men on Saturday afternoon.

Cashmere captain Tim Meredith said Tennis Canterbury general manager Bevin Johns has improved the competition with some positive changes.

“The new competition format is great from a player perspective – it means more tennis. We are now raring to get back on court.

“Bevan is doing an amazing job. He definitely has the locker room support for what he is doing for our sport.”

Johns said the interclub format now includes five round robin games followed by the semi-finals and final.

Tim and brother James Meredith will be in the top slots to play Te Kura Hagley on Saturday at Te Kura Hagley.

The regulars are also back for Cashmere, apart from Lucas Evans who will be in Wellington playing an International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tournament.

Evans’ regular double’s partner Liam Barrett is available and Tim McHarg who was injured in his first match earlier this season, has recovered and will play doubles.

In the women’s competition Elmwood captain Louise Oxnevad is feeling positive about the interclub competition.

Elmwood will play Shirley in a repeat of the semi-final from the pre-Christmas competition, in which three of the five round-robin matches were cancelled due to bad weather.

“I actually think this round of the competition will be more competitive,” Oxnevad said.

First round runners-up in the men’s competition, Elmwood, have 10 highly-ranked players from which to select their starting line-up. They take on the Nic Jenkins-led Edgeware Waimairi team at Waimairi, while Bishopdale play Burnside Park at Burnside Park.

Cashmere play Bishopdale at Bishopdale tonight, while Waimairi take on the experienced Te Kura Hagley featuring Michelle North Kelsen, Beth Williamson, Petra Belzova and Bailee Wilson.

Over the first round, a number of women’s players juggled Caro Bowl tennis in Auckland on Friday night with interclub in Christchurch. The Caro Bowl competition is now finished. However, for the next two weeks several premier interclub players will compete at ITF events in Wellington and Auckland.

Oxnevad, Ruby Young (Cashmere No 1) and Charlie Byers (Waimairi No 1) have played at tournaments in Christchurch and Wanaka over the past month.

Young won the Wanaka Open singles and combined titles, while Byers won the doubles against Oxnevad and her mother, Felicity.

Young and her Cashmere teammate, Lucia Gale, also made the quarter-finals in both the singles and doubles at last week’s ITF junior event at Wilding Park.

In the pre-Christmas finals, Cashmere defeated Elmwood in the first round of the men’s competition. In the women’s final, the experienced Elmwood team beat the young Bishopdale line-up.

By Diane Keenan