Tennis: Super-fit Luke Donovan bags sixth title

Rob Reynolds was denied a third consecutive title when beaten by Luke Donovan. Photo/Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay tennis representative Luke Donovan will tackle his fifth marathon in a fortnight.

It will be in China on May 21. Greendale's professional coach Donovan, 33, attributed all the endurance work he has been doing for his marathons as the key to his 6-4, 6-4 win against defending champion Rob Reynolds in the Hawke's Bay Residentials open men's singles final at Reynolds Hawke's Bay Lawn club yesterday.

"With the power Rob hits at these days I need that fitness to help me run around the court. I'm on the back foot a lot so I need to give him long rallies and be patient. The longer the rallies the better it suits me," Donovan said.

It was the sixth time left-hander Donovan had won the title.

"I might be able to go for Franky's record," he quipped referring to former Hastings kingpin John Francois who holds the record with 16 wins.

"I was preparing for a three-set battle because although Rob hadn't been playing as much he still has that experience gained from his United States trip last year," Donovan added.

Reynolds, 19, had a three-month stint with the Ragin' Cajuns men's team at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette last year before returning home. However he hadn't picked up his racket for a fortnight because he recently started a 12-week pre-veterinary course in Palmerston North.

"It's a cut-throat course as only a quarter of us will make the cut to try and continue on and complete the five-year degree. I've been studying pretty hard," Reynolds said.

"I was hoping for my third consecutive title and it could have gone either way. But it was still a spectacular match for the crowd."

Reynolds pointed out when it took him three sets to beat Hastings club professional Craig Giddy in his semifinal a fortnight ago that was a sign he should have done more training.

"I'll put in some serious training before next year's residentials to try and get the title back," he added.

Napier Girls' High School sports co-ordinator Jane Wyllie, 46, was 5-2 and 40-15 down in the third set but still beat 14-year-old Napier Girls' High School student and Hawke's Bay Lawn clubmate Lily Verhoeven in the open women's final which took 2hrs40m.

"The old head prevailed. It wasn't pretty to watch but everyone said they enjoyed it because of the long rallies," Wyllie said after her 6-7, 6-1, 9-7 victory.

"Nerves got to me a bit and I took a while to settle down. I was on the back foot and retrieving a lot so I couldn't go for my winners and had to rally," she added.

The 2015 winner of the title, Verhoeven, said it was one of the longest matches she had played.

"Jane did so well to come back after saving two match points. She started to mix her game up well and I lost concentration a little bit and started to be a bit tentative. Jane also used a lot of slice which I found hard to return.

"I'm looking forward to the next match against her," Verhoeven added.