Tennis: Rowe eyes up tourney titles

Hawke's Bay Lawn's Daniel Rowe relished the home court advantage on day one of the Hawke's Bay International Junior Tennis Tournament yesterday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay Juniors International tennis

Don't be fooled by Daniel Rowe's sixth seeding in the under-14 singles at the Hawke's Bay International Junior Tennis Tournament.

The Hawke's Bay Lawn 14-year-old, who is coached by his club's resident professional Simon Winter and former Hawke's Bay No 1 woman Louise Reynolds, is eyeing both the singles and doubles titles in his age group of the four-day Kennedy Park-sponsored event which has attracted 160 players including 40 Aussies and three from The Netherlands.

"I'll be going out with all guns blazing," Rowe said last night as he pondered his quarterfinal against top seed Kurt Amey of Feilding today.

"Kurt beat me 2 and 4 last month. That match was in New Plymouth but this time it will be at my home club and the home crowd will give me a big boost."

The Napier Boys' High School Year 9 student, who has targeted Super 8 play as a goal next year and a United States tennis scholarship as his long-term ambition, had a memorable march yesterday to the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles play.

A fourth-year player, Rowe, opened his singles campaign with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Aussie Corinth Prescott-Norris before eliminating Tauranga's Liam Roberts in the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 win.

Rowe is playing in the doubles with Tauranga's Lucas Darling for the first time. They belied the fact they weren't good enough for a seeding with a 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of Aussies Peter Blazey and Luke Steinfort in their first outing before beating Tauranga twins Connor and Liam Adams in their second round clash.

Rowe's clubmate, Lily Verhoeven, is the second seed in the under-14 singles and will take on clubmate and fourth seed Sophia Nash in the semifinals today. It will be a surprise if Verhoeven, the Bay's No 1 woman at 13, doesn't progress to the final where she is expected to meet top seed Ella Wells of Manawatu. Verhoeven has also reached the semifinals of the under-14 doubles playing with Manawatu's Ella Marshall.

Playing at his Greendale club, Napier Boys' High School's Albert Rocard, justified his top seeding in the under-18 boys singles yesterday by progressing through to the final. Hawke's Bay's Jess Anderson of Hastings Christian School and Hinewai Hosford of St Joseph's Maori Girls' College were seeded one and two respectively in the under-18 singles. However they failed to perform with quarterfinal exits to Aussies Zali Stevens and Claudia Colarossi respectively. Play in the tournament, which is also using the Nelson Park club's courts and caters for players from under-18 to under-10 age groups continues until Thursday.

A powhiri for the international contingent was held at Napier's Pukemokimoki Marae on Sunday and Napier mayor Bill Dalton officially opened the event yesterday.

"We've had plenty of positive feedback. It looks like it's here to stay in this format and at this time of the year and I'm sure it will continue to grow," tourney director Paul Evans said.