Wanganui beat Manawatu a month late

There was almost a cruel irony to the Wanganui representative tennis team winning their last challenge of the season in the playoff for fifth at the Hexagonal tournament in Wellington at the weekend.

Held at the Renouf Tennis Centre, Wanganui defeated Manawatu convincingly 13-3, but it was arguably a month too late as Manawatu had narrowly beaten them 13-11 at the Basset St courts to lift the Christie Cup after four seasons.

The home side was always going to struggle in that clash without their international stars who had to return back to America for the resumption of the university year, but the withdrawal of another couple of squad regulars late in the week of Manawatu's challenge sealed their fate.

Manawatu then headed off the challenge of Taranaki and will keep the silverware for the winter, as it was not on the line at the Hexagonal.

Wanganui took a team of eight to the Renouf Tennis Centre to play singles, doubles and mixed doubles games.

They were drawn in a pool against Hutt Valley and one of the three Wellington teams, and were defeated 11-4 and 10-6 respectively.

"The strength and calibre down in Wellington is pretty damn strong," said team manager Sean Edmonds.

"It was an indication of where we're at. We took a few young ones down, they're vastly improved."

As expected, top ranked Leela Beattie was one of the best overall women's players, winning all six of her games.

Georgia Atkinson picked up four wins and showed some natural talent, while Paris Butters - the sole member of her illustrious tennis family available - looked a bit rusty after not playing while in Nelson.

On the men's side, no-one had a better than 50 per cent winning average, although Tim McKenzie improved as the Hexagonal went on and Patrice Mathey, not used to playing so far from home, came right on the second day of matches.

Looking ahead to next summer, Edmonds said they were targetting a December 18 date to challenge Manawatu to try and win the Christie Cup back.

This would be their "only chance" as their American-based players Kyle Butters and Paige Hourigan should be available to join Beattie, as well as possibly their professional Emma Hayman.

"We will play a rep match before the rep match [with Manawatu]," Edmonds said.