St Clair beat North Otago 6-0 and Balmacewen downed Otago Boys’ Blue 5-1 while Anderson’s Bay defeated Otago Boys’ White 4-2. Taieri had the bye.
Mitchell Sizemore (St Clair) has worked into strong form with more regular match play. He used his power to pressure Shaun Paringatai, who had missed the previous two weeks after a great start to the season. Paringatai was inventive at times but was also forced into errors and went down 6-4, 6-2.
The veteran trio of Jeff Elliotte, Robin Versteeg and Tony Ryder backed up their No1 by not dropping a set in the remainder . Both doubles were also won in straight sets.
Paddy Ou kept his unbeaten record at No1 for Balmacewen when beating Manawa Rakete-Shea, who has had limited match play, 6-0 6-1. Ou showed his renowned sharp movement and consistency.
Newcomer Jack Kos was also impressive in getting the same score against Henry Dickson and partnering Ou to an easy doubles win.
Junior Zane Gray took the only success for the school-based team when he bounced back from a 6-4 first-set loss to Shane Keenan to run through the next two 6-1, 6-1.
Ryan Eggers won the top singles 6-2, 6-0 for Anderson’s Bay against Ayoub Ahmad but the most absorbing contest came at No2 when Mat McCutcheon beat Gavin Mockford 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 in more than two hours.
McCutcheon’s big swinging left-hand serve caused Mockford problems but he showed grit to stay in the game while McCutcheon gave up enough errors to keep it close.
Veteran Phil Mirfin continued his good run with a 6-3 ,6-3 win over Jason So but Ayoub Ahmad and McCutcheon deserved huge credit when they came from 6-1 in the first set, to win a pair of tiebreaks against Eggers, an Otago doubles titleholder several times over, and Mockford, who also favours the doubles game.
Club points
After six rounds
St Clair 39 points (5 ties), Balmacewen 37 (6), Anderson’s Bay 28 (5), OBHS Blue 21 (4), OBHS White 19 (4), North Otago 13 (5), Taieri 13 (5). Note:-OBHS Blue v OBHS White to be played and Balmacewen yet to have a bye.
