On Sunday, the Wanganui Junior tennis team competed against the best of the juniors from the wider Wairarapa region in an annual fixture held at the great facility of the Wanganui Tennis Club.
With stunning weather creating perfect conditions for play, 32 enthusiastic players did singles and doubles against eachother.
The Wanganui boys team were lead into battle by senior players Jaiden Edmonds, Terrance Wright, and Bartje Ferguson.
Wright set the tone with a 6-0 6-0 win against Liam Quirke, while Edmonds could not win the vital points, losing 6-2 7-5.
With Bartje fighting bravely but ultimately losing 6-1 6-1 in a match that took over 90 minutes, Wanganui were on the back foot.
Basia Sosnowska created Wanganui's second win of the day with a 0-6 6-3 7-5 comeback victory.
This was followed by Mataamua Amoroa, who after crashing over early in the first set would pick himself up and starting moving like lightning to win 7-5 7-5, while Stella Ridgway showed determination and skill to rally her way to a close 6-3 7-5 victory.
Ariana Cronshaw put in her traditional and reliable performance as one of the Wanganui team's most consistent players to win 6-1 6-2, and the youngest player Kate Couper, 10, gave Wanganui its sixth victory of the day 4-1 4-3.
Ryan Bayler from Whanganui High school found victory in the doubles, partnering with Wright for 6-1 6-2, and then again in his reverse singles against Quirke 6-1 5-7 10-8 after losing his first match in a marathon three sets.
While most of the Wanganui Junior players were beaten across their Wairarapa fixtures, youngster Kate Couper got two wins yesterday.
Thomas Illiffe, conjuring a consistent physical and mental effort, rallied his way to a three set win against Ben Kinvig - taking the first set 6-1, dropping the second set 7-5 before running away with the super tie breaker 10-3.
Ridgway joined Wright, Bayler, Couper and Cronshaw with two wins out of three matches after winning her doubles with Couper.
Overall the Wanganui team had 11 wins, but Wairarapa had 22 for a convincing victory to the visitors.
But with Ridgway, Cronshaw, Wright, Bayler all having two wins each and Sosnowska and Illiffe picking up a singles win each, Wanganui finished this fixture on a much larger positive note than previous events.
