Wairarapa senior tennis selector Steve Hurley was delighted with his team's third placing at the inter-provincial tournament held at the Masterton Tennis Centre over the weekend. Going into the five-team event as fourth seeds Wairarapa scored strong wins over Manawatu by 10-2 and Kapi Mana by 8-4 . They also gave secondplaced Hutt Valley a good run for their money before losing 4-8 and were outgunned by Wellington 0-12 who went on to crush Hutt Valley 10-2 in the decider. "We always knew we were capable of improving our seeding to third and it was pleasing to do that, "Hurley said. "We were outgunned by Wellington but otherwise we were very competitive". While the Wairarapa men were always expected to give a strong account of themselves-and they did- there were fears that the women might struggle. But as it happened they surprised even Hurley by providing some of Wairarapa's best results. "Our women played way above expectations?.they really did themselves proud," he said.. A feature of the Wairarapa performance was the consistent play of Martinborough's Leanne Sweeney, who was returning to representative play after an absence of a few seasons. The former Central Districts representative starred in singles play and formed a successful combined doubles partnership with Marco de Groot Another to impress in singles play for Wairarapa was Emma Stevenson. Picture: Leanne Sweeney is all concentration as she prepares to serve while playing for Wairarapa in the inter-provincial tennis tournament played at the Masterton Tennis Centre over the weekend. Wairarapa faced opposition from Wellington, Kapi Mana, Hutt Valley and Manawatu at the tourney.
