Tennis Geelong’s senior competition saw the mixed and men’s sections won in contrasting styles, with most men’s matches tied on sets and decided on games, while the mixed sections were quite one sided.
The men’s competition was incredibly close this week, with four of the six matches decided on games, and only two of the six home teams winning through.
Moolap overcame Western Heights Uniting in Section 3 by only one game, and Hamlyn Park Blue finished two games ahead of All Saints in Section 4.
The most comfortable win for the week was Newcomb over Barwon Heads five sets to one in Section 2, while in Section 6 Surfcoast Jan Juc had its first win for the season over Highton 4-2.
Section 5 minor premier Fyans Park will be licking its wounds and looking to next season after going down to All Saints by one game this week, after missing out last week by the same margin to Grovedale.
Section 1 was also tied on sets with a two-game margin to Grovedale.
In a battle that was neck and neck, Jai Bosnjak proved the difference, winning his three sets for the day.
It was preliminary final week for the top six mixed sections, while Sections 7 to 9 were all in sudden death semis.
Unlike the men, all but one home team made it through to next week, and mostly won through comfortably.
Sections 1, 2, 5 and 6 saw Grovedale Yellow, Highton, Wandana Heights and Newcomb have 5-1 wins against Grovedale Black, St Albans, Moolap and Lara to progress to their grand finals, while Clifton Springs took a clean sweep against Ocean Grove in Section 3.
Anglesea put itself in the Section 4 final with Claire Ingram as the standout taking her three sets in the 4-2 win over Barwon Heads.
Of the teams playing semi finals this week, the biggest upset for the day was Sutherlands Creek over Wandana Heights in Section 8.
This was the team’s first win over Wandana in their four meetings for the season, with James Iwanuch leading the charge, winning his three sets for the day, and the team getting up four sets to two.
Drysdale was too good for last year’s Section 8 premier Surfcoast Bellbrae, winning the second semi five sets to one.
Section 7 saw Grovedale neck and neck with Eastern Districts for the first four sets, but took the final two sets 6-4 to give it a 4-2 win, helped by Diane Ambrus taking her three sets for the day.
In the other match, Surfcoast Torquay proved too strong for Drysdale/Clifton Springs, winning through five sets to one.
Highton continued its unbeaten run in Section 9 with a 6-0 win over fourth placed Fyans Park, while in the second semi the family combination of Evie Ryan with grandfather Bruce Rookes took it to Wandana Heights.
The teams were tied at two sets all but Wandana ahead with a four game lead going into the final mixed sets.
Wandana rallied to take both remaining sets for a 4-2 win and a berth in the grand final.
