Close finishes were the feature of Dunedin men's premier club matches played in the Edgar Centre on Tuesday night.
Midweek rounds have been added to complete the schedule and take advantage of the many new student players in the city. A complete round is to be played, followed by playoffs and a final before the early Easter this year.
Last year's champion, Cosy Dell, lost for the second time in three days, and it took a sets countback for McGlashan Red to prevail. The Low brothers had contrasting fortunes, with Alex accounting for schoolboy Paddy Ou 6-3, 6-3, but Hamish could take only three games off fellow Otago representative Jong Kyu Kim. With the lower order being similarly split in straight sets, the vital break came for McGlashan when Ou and Andrew Mitchell took a set in losing to the Lows, and Mitchell Sizemore and Kim were able to win the bottom double in two sets. Mornington-Roslyn also won on the countback, after splitting rubbers with Balmacewen. It has recruited some new faces and Jeremy Ferguson was the most impressive, beating Will Bourne 6-0, 7-5 at No 3.
Tom McCabe (Mornington) beat newcomer Wei Jin 6-2, 6-2, but George Alexander matched that score, beating Henry Hailes. The lower order was split, but with Hailes and Ferguson taking a vital set in their doubles loss to Alexander and Matt McCutcheon, and Matt Foo, returning to the city, partnering McCabe to an easy doubles win, the result was safe.
Eastern Harbour, despite losing Sam Poulter to an injury from the weekend, had a 4-2 win against McGlashan Blue. Aucklander Aaron Hicks was comfortable in beating another newcomer in Taylor Quirk 6-3, 6-1 in the top single. Oliver Reid was impressive in racing to a 6-0 first set over Southland Open champion Ryan Eggers, but Eggers produced his renowned fightback to lead 5-1 and 40 love before Reid found a fightback of his own to claim the second set in a tiebreak. Harbour won both doubles in straight sets, and when it were able to share the singles 2-2 it had the margin.
