Tennis: Summer open draws players

Terry Mitchell (Kamo) and Alastair Steward (Silverdale) claimed the men's tennis title at the open event at Kaitaia.

Summer time is tennis time and while Auckland has the ASB Classic attracting international superstars of the game like the Williams sisters, Kaitaia has its Summer Open, a squash and tennis tournament which attracts dozens of out-of-towners to the Far North to compete against local players including the likes of ex-pat homegrown sporting hero Shelley Kitchen.

As it transpired, the main event of the 2017 Summer Open, the men's doubles tennis final, was won by Terry Mitchell (Kamo) and Alastair Steward (Silverdale).

The duo beat Sion Wiggon (North Shore) and Neil Rossin (Henderson) 16-15 then 16-3 from a field 15 teams contesting the title.

The women's title was contested by four teams and was taken out by local ladies Julie Carnachan and Larnee Savill over a round-robin format (ie. as opposed to progressing through to play for the title in a final).

The aforementioned Wiggon was one of the main talking points of the day, in contesting both squash and tennis titles.

The men's tennis final had to be delayed while Wiggon - a top junior player for the Northern region back in the day - went about claiming the open squash title by beating Aaron Kopittke 3-1.

It appears the effort may have cost as Mitchell and Steward rolled over Wiggon with Rossin in relatively comfortably fashion in the tennis final.

Earlier, Rossin beat partner Shelley Kitchen in the 3rd/4th place playoff in the squash.

There were 30 entries in the squash section, approximately half the number which contested the title in 2015.

Organisers noted this year's event was smaller than previous tournaments which was put down to the manner in which the stat holidays fell over the Christmas holiday break this year.

There were still plenty of top prizes up for grabs for all the top placegetters thanks to the support from local businesses while the club dished up the traditional banquet feast at the end of the day for all participants.