Sam Campbell
AFTER a couple of weeks off over the holiday period, Broken Hill tennis returned last week for the last minor round before finals commence.
In the Wednesday Division One, three matches unfolded.
Macblack strengthened their position toward the top of the ladder, downing Net Ninjas five sets to one.
Net Ninjas looked to be in the hunt at the start of the night as Ken Caldwell and Geoff Spangler beat Jack Woods and Ashleigh Mason 7-5.
However, that was cancelled out as Hamish Curtis and Luke Barnes bested Ryan Lewis and Praise Ukpong with the same scoreline to tie the match.
The next four sets went the way of Macblack, Barnes mercurial for his side, winning his remaining matches 7-3 and 7-3.
Macblack finished off the dominant night five sets 40 games to one set 24 games.
Despite some gallant attempts, Feauties couldn’t jag a set off Couldabeens in the second fixture of the night.
Couldabeens started their night with two hard-fought 7-5 wins.
Wayne “Knocking the top off” Lee and Jamie Passlow then had a clutch tiebreaker victory over Brady and Zac Wauchope, set of the night.
While that was happening, Glenn Andrich and Leonie Channing cruised to a 7-2 win to gift their side a set majority.
By the time the post-game party pies were cooked, Couldabeens were 6-42 to 0-25 to the good, while the scorecard had them winning a mysterious seventh set that won’t be counted.
The third match between Keen On Balls and Spin Doctors was a little closer but still decided on sets.
Keen-On Balls jumped out of the blocks, gaining the first two sets 7-6 and 7-2.
Corey Pascoe was in solid form and had some steely-eyed skills as he won two of his matches in tiebreakers to crucially keep his side ahead all night.
That effort, along with rest of the firing Keen On Balls squad saw the final score sit at 4-33 to 2-32.
Moving into the Thursday night Open A, player vacancies, individuals sidelined with injury, and unexpected sabbaticals saw just the one match take place between traditional rivals Topspins and Backhands.
Patrick Reincke and Matthew Handberg were an unlikely combo for Topspins due to the player reshuffle; they took on Nathan Crabb and Adam “Cheese and Rice” Hellyer in the top double.
It was an entertaining match with some top notch hitting, Reincke and Handberg prevailed 7-3.
Topspins’ lead was extended further by Steve Grillet and Brady Wauchope jetting past Corey Pascoe and Steve Gleeson 7-2.
From there, the match tightened up.
Reincke and Grillet then partnered and had to save multiple match points on their way to a tiebreaker win over Crabb and Pascoe.
The mixture of Hellyer and Gleeson proved beneficial for Backhands as the pair beat Handberg and Wauchope in a very engaging match 7-4.
The last two matches of the night were both decided in tiebreakers with Topspins snagging them both to round off the night with a 5-39 to 1-30 win.
Finals now beckon.
Draw – Finals Week One
Wednesday Division One
Spin Doctors v Couldabeens
Macblack v Feauties
