Butters top draw for singles champs

Despite his flat-out schedule, Wanganui tennis' standout Kyle Butters will headline the senior open singles championships this weekend.

There are 20 players confirmed for the men's draw and eight for the women's at the Bassett St courts.

Ranked in the world top 10 for 16-year-olds, Butters naturally takes the No1 seed position and such is his obvious class that Wanganui club captain Lynn Dent did a ring around to get suggestions for allocating the other top seedings.

"It's great that he's playing with all his commitments and things coming up in his life," she said. "Kyle is like the cherry on top of this whole thing."

The men's semifinals will start early on Sunday at 9am to give Butters and the other Wanganui High School students involved time to get away to Auckland where their mixed team will compete at the National Secondary Schools Tennis Championship, starting Monday.

The Wanganui tournament will start at noon on Saturday for the men and 1pm for the women's draw, which could see those semifinals possibly held that day due to the smaller field.

Older club members Patrice Mathey and Ivan Southon are the No2 and Noseeds respectively after Butters. Mathey was a winner in the B Grade of the club's doubles championships on March 3.

In the women's draw, Helen Russel's status as the defending champion saw her given the No1 seeding ahead of Kyle Butter's sister Paris.

Russel was a runner-up in the A Grade of the doubles championships, while Paris Butters will also be a vital part of the WHS mixed team going to Auckland.

Her mother, Tara Butters, will be No3 seed.