LOCAL TENNIS with Donna Schoenmaekers
The ladder is looking very interesting in Junior Pennants Section 4 Boys.
The top of the table clash between undefeated Hamlyn Park and second placed Grovedale was the first match of interest in round 7 and the depth of the Hamlyn Park team showed through.
The match started with the two doubles and the sets couldn’t have been more different. Harry Carter and Nikolas Vagias made short work of the second doubles winning 6-0, while Andreas Vagias and Hudson Incoll battled to a tie-break win in the first.
Eli Egan will have felt he had his chances, going down to Andreas Vagias in the singles in another tie-break, while the rest of the team wasn’t strong enough to match the Park, eventual winners 6-0, cementing themselves on top of the ladder at the halfway mark of the season.
The loss saw Grovedale drop to third, overtaken by Drysdale, with their 5-1 win over eighth placed Wandana Heights. While the final score looked lop-sided, again the number ones had great battles with Lewis Kilpatrick the victor in the singles 6-4 and with partner Thomas Palmateer just sneaking home in a tie-break in the doubles.
Brodie Seach won the fourth singles for Wandana in a tie-break, so the day was closer than it may have seemed.
Bannockburn were fourth at the start of the day and fell to sixth, with their 5-1 loss at home to Geelong Lawn. Banno had their chances going down in tie-breaks to Oscar Wang in the second singles and Jack Nancarrow and Sebastian Craik second doubles, but with Nancarrow and Craik also winning their singles, and Wang successful with Oliver Evans in the first doubles, Lawn proved too strong on the day, pushing themselves into the four.
Lara also improved their position with a 4-2 win over Waurn Ponds. The singles sets were split between the two teams, with only one game difference, but Lara proved too strong in the doubles with Charlie Dando and Zac Bath winning the first 6-1 followed up by Archie Gigas and Allen Portelli with a 6-4 win in the second putting the team into fifth, staying one point out of the four.
While Hamlyn Park has a 13-point buffer at the top of the ladder, there is only 10 points separating second and sixth, so everyone will need to be on their game for the balance of the season to ensure they are still in contention come finals time.
