Auckland junior Scott Winnard fell just short in his bid to reach the quarter-finals of the IBM Adelaide ITF tournament.  Up against 5th seed Hiroki Moriya from Japan, Winnard won the first set 6-4 but lost the next two 7-5 6-3.  In the doubles, Winnard is through to the quarters alongside Australian junior hope Mark Verryth.

Auckland’s Martin Colenbrander, recent winner of the ITF junior tournament in his home town, came within a whisker of winning his first match in a Men’s Futures tournament in Blenheim today.  Martin took control early in his first round match with Jurek Staniak (AUS), closing out the opening set 6-2.  A break early in the second saw Colenbrander establish a 4-2 lead before the Australian recovered to win the set 7-5.  The experience of Staniak carried him through the third set which he won 6-3.  Colenbrander will be hoping for another opportunity at the Futures stop in Hamilton next week.

Several Auckland players are compiling winning records in Division One play of American Intercollegiate tennis this year.  Individual win/loss records are listed below with the name and current ranking of each respective college in brackets after the players name.
GD Jones 6-3 (Illinois #3)

William Ward 8-4 (Baylor #9)
Nick Lane 7-2 (#36)
Jonathan Hooper 5-3 (Las Vegas #66)
Kiril Tcherveniachki 1-4 (Tennessee #20)
Shona Lee 4-2 (North Carolina State #40)
Ashley Siddall 2-4 (UC Irvine #67)

Oliver and Rubin Statham have both suffered first round defeats at the Men’s Futures tournament in Blenheim.  Oliver lost 6-1 6-2 to Simon Stadler (GER) while Rubin went down 6-4 6-4 to Sadik Kadir from Australia.

Sacha Jones won all six of her matches to help New Zealand lift the inaugural IBM International Club World Challenge in Sydney over the weekend.  Sacha easily won her singles and doubles matches against France and Mexico on the first two days of competition at Homebush.  In the final against Australia, Sacha beat Brittany Sheed 6-3 6-2 and then partnered Ellen Barry to motch up another point in the doubles.  The New Zealand team won the final 5-1.

Marina Erakovic was forced to retire at the beginning of the third set in her semi-final match against second seed Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) at the Kia International in Gosford.  In only her second tournament outing after a prolonged break due to injury, Marina progressed easily through to the last four.  Against Chan, Erakovic started well and won the first set before dropping the next.  At 0-1 down in the decider, Marina was forced to throw in the towel due to back pain.

Marina Erakovic has gone one better than her quarter-final appearance in Sydney last week by reaching the semis of the Kia International in Gosford today.  Third seed Erakovic easily disposed of Bryanne Stewart 6-2 6-2 and looked untroubled throughout the match.  A place in the final awaits if she can overcome second seed Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) tomorrow.