By DAVE WORSLEY
Three of the men's top four seeds have made the semis of the NZ Residentials championships at the North Harbour Tennis Park, but no match was easy, even though all were won in straight sets.
Simon Rea moved another step closer to taking the title for the third successive
year, beating seventh seed Nick Lane 6-3, 6-3.
But the match gave Rea plenty of thoughts for his next encounter.
"My win over Nick Lane was closer than the score indicated, but I need to improve with each match and will need to get better for Shorty [James Shortall] and try and figure out how to get my racquet to his serve," said Rea, who cannot recall if he and fourth seed Shortall have played before.
Shortall, 22, from the Manawatu, spent time on a scholarship in Mississippi, lives in Auckland, played the national teams event for Wellington and also plays Chelsea Cup on the North Shore.
He had a real struggle to overcome unseeded Matt Simpson 6-4, 7-5 in a hard-hitting match. In the end Shortall's experience gave him the win.
Third seed G. D. Jones was also involved in a tight match, beating fifth seed Lee Radovanovich 7-5, 6-4.
Jones now faces Canterbury's Dan King Turner, who defeated second seed Adam Thompson.
Although King Turner was eighth seed and Thompson second, a blanket could have been thrown over the top 10 players, such was the closeness of the draw.
King Turner was too consistent when the points counted, beating Thompson 7-5, 6-2.
In the women's draw, top seed Shelley Stephens made short work of Wellington's Nicola Kaiwai 6-2, 6-2 and now plays sixth seed Dianne Hollands, who overcame fourth seed Niki Tippins in a long match.
Hollands, 20, who plays her tennis out of the University of Arizona, struggled with Tippins' relentless returns and sometimes high, looping shots, but eventually won 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 after being down 5-3 in the third set.
In the other half of the draw, Leanne Baker will take on eighth seed Shona Lee after each had routine wins over Tracey O'Connor and Varoma Varno respectively.
The women's semis start at 10.30am, followed by the men's at midday.
All matches will be held indoors.
