Parnell were the dominant force in the Scarbro Caro Bowl tennis semifinals with its men’s and women’s teams having straightforward victories to make the finals and also gain home court advantage for the big title showdown on Friday night.

 

 

 

The Parnell men’s side won 5-1 over Pompallier with the best match of the night being the top doubles as four former Davis Cup players took to each other before the combination of Matt Prentic and Steve Downs won in a third set tiebreak against Robbie Cheyne and James Shortall.

 

 

 

Prentice beat Cheyne with some big serving in the top singles while the rest of the matches were straight sets. Alistair Hunt defaulted his singles to Shortall with a back injury.

 

 

 

Parnell will find themselves facing West End in a replay of last years final after West End almost let their contest slip against Blockhouse Bay.

 

 

 

West End looked comfortable early in the evening having won both doubles in straight sets a being a set up in the top match with leads in the other three contests but somehow dropped every match bar the No1 singles.

 

 

 

Adam Thompson reversed the result of a couple of weeks ago by defeating Jackson Bodle which ended Bodle’s undefeated run of the season while James Meredith gained a good win over Mark Nielsen at No2 and at No4 Eru Lyndon beat Martin Colenbrander, but it was Teo Susnjak who managed a set in his loss to Tim Meredith which gave West End a eight sets to seven countback win over the Bay team.

 

 

 

Of note was Wesley Whitehouse and James Greenhalgh making it 16 consecutive wins in a row in doubles together for West End.

 

 

 

The women’s final will feature Parnell versus Royal Oak after the Oak team caused a minor upset by defeating defending champs Mangere Combined 4-2. It was the traditional determined effort by Royal Oak who were runner up to Mangere last season.

 

 

 

A large amount of credit can go to Nicola Kaiwai who beat Lucy Barlow Nicola 6-3 7-6 in the second singles after being down 1-5 in the second set. Both doubles matches were won by Royal Oak in three sets while Angela Swinkels won against Katarania Hunia 6-1 6-2 at No3.

 

 

 

Tracey O’Connor and Selema Taufa were Mangere’s two winners.

 

 

 

Parnell won their semifinal over Mission Bay 4-2 with a minimum of fuss, although they dropped the second doubles with Pavlina Nola and Christine Foote losing to Diana D’Audney and Imogen Golderin three sets. The top three singles matches were all easily won by Di Hollands, Nola and Niki Tippins to give the home team the victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men’s semifinal results:

Parnell 5 Pompallier 1

Matt Prentice bt Robbie Cheyne 6-3 6-1

Alistair Hunt lt James Shortall walkover

Andrew Batie bt Adam McNeill 6-1 6-0

Steve Downs bt Quichee Wong 6-1 6-1

Prentice/Downs bt Cheyne/Shortall 6-4 4-6 7-6

Hunt/Olsen bt McNeill/Brad Patterson 6-1 6-1

 

 

 

West End 3 (8 sets) Blockhouse Bay 3 (7 seven sets)

Adam Thompson bt Jackson Bodle 6-3 7-6

Mark Nielsen lt James Meredith 5-7 5-7

Teo Susnjak lt Tim Meredith 6-1 3-6 4-6

Martin Colenbrander lt Eru Lyndon 6-7 3-6

Thompson/Nielsen bt Bodle/Lyndon 6-1 6-4

Wesley Whitehouse/James Greenhalgh bt Meredith/Meredith 6-2 6-4

 

 

 

Parnell play West End in men’s final next Friday night at Parnell.

 

 

 

Women’s semifinal results:

Parnell 4 Mission Bay 2

Di Hollands bt Tanya Samodelok 6-3 6-0

Pavlina Nola bt Imogen Golder 6-0 6-0

Niki Tippins bt Mikeala Davies 6-3 6-1

Carolyn De Witt lt Kate Shearer 5-7 7-5 6-4

Hollands/Tippins bt Samodelok/Davies 6-2 6-3

Nola/Foote lt Golder/Diana D’Audney 3-6 6-4 6-4

 

 

 

Royal Oak 4 Mangere Combined 2

Abigail Guthrie lt Tracey O’Connor 1-6 0-6

Nicola Kaiwai bt Lucy Barlow 6-3 7-6

Angela Swinkels bt Katarania Hunia 6-1 6-2

Gabrielle Grady lt Selema Taufa 6-4 1-6 4-6

Guthrie/Swinkels bt O’Connor/Barlow 6-2 0-6 6-2

Kaiwai/Grady bt Taufa/Deanne Haami 6-7 7-6 7-5

 

 

 

Parnell play Royal Oak in the women’s final next Friday night at Parnell