Maiden, Daly take Canterbury tennis titles

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 21

Maiden, Daly take Canterbury tennis titles

By

LORELEI MASON

Mark Maiden, of Auckland and Liz Daly, of. Southland, captured the men’s and women’s singles crowns respectively in the Skellerup All Star Canterbury senior tennis championships at Wilding Park yesterday. The wins were not easy, both players were taken to three long sets before both won,' 6-3, in the final set The surprise finalist in the men's singles, Canterbury’s Peter Hampton, put up a very impressive fight against his highly-rated opponent Maiden began the match positively, passing Hampton repeatedly at the net and dominating the set winning, 6-2. Hampton found his rhythm in the second set and slowed the game down to give himself a better chance of dictating play. An early break of service helped him to a 3-0 lead, which he used intelligently, taking his time over his passing shots and angling his own first volleys well. With the second set firmly under his- belt and playing better with every game, Hampton must have liked his chances of winning the third. But with renewed vigour, Maiden unleashed a string of volley winners, covering the net well to establish a 2-1 lead. The crunch for Hampton came when he was serving

for 3-3, but after a lengthy deuce-advantage game Maiden took the initiative and soon raced to a 5-2 lead. Hampton had his chances to level after being 4-5 down, saving one match point and winning the next . with a down-the-line backhand pass. Maiden recovered sufficiently to make' his second matchpoint his last, winning it with a sharply-angled backhand volley. Meanwhile, on the adjoining court, Daly, the top seed, and the Auckland teenager, Claudine Toleafoa, were having a spirited battle. Daly used superb placement and varied the pace intelligently to capture the first set, 6-2, making Toleafoa scamper from corner to corner to retrieve her deep baseline balls. In the second set, Toleafoa took her chances early and rushed the net on every occasion, collecting enough volley winners to sufficiently disrupt Daly’s hold on the match. Daly then went through a tentative phase, allowing Toleafoa to dictate the play. This she did very well, winning tha second set, 6-4. At 1-2 down in the decider, Daly knuckled down and concentrated well, winning the next three games to lead, 4-2. She gained confidence with each winning shot At 0-40 down in the last game, Daly won five points in a row, three of which were winners, to win the set, 6-3, and make the title hers.

The men’s doubles final was a real crowd-pleaser. It was won by Steven Harley and Michael Mooney in three sets against Hampton and Brett Hibbert. Yesterday’s win reveiaed the doubles final result at the Show Week-end tournament when Hibbert and Hampton won, 6-4, in the third set in an equally entertaining match. The women’s doubles .final was won by Daly and Suzanne Green, who combined very well to beat Sally Moorfield and Rachel Wilson after dropping the second set, 4-6. Finals results. — OPEN Men’s singles: M. Maiden beat P. Hampton 6-2,3-6,6-3. Women’s singles: E. Daly beat C. Toleafoa 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Men’s doubles: S. Harley and M. Mooney beat Hampton and B. Hibbert 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Women’s doubles: Daly and S. Green beat S. Moorfield and R. Wilson 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Men’s plate: A. Hunt beat L. Glass 6-1, 6-4. Women’s consolation: A. Tate beat J. Phillips 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Women’s plate: P. Lewthwaite beat D. O’Malley 6-1, 6-3. B GRADE Men’s singles: G. Webb beat D. Riordan 7-5, 6-2. Men’s doubles: S. Brookman and M. Young beat P. D. Bommer and P. Deely 7-6, 6-1.

Men’s plate: M. Young beat J. Love 6-4, 6-4.