Nelson Bays Tennis

Canterbury's Gareth Robb upset defending champion Vaughan Kingi to win yesterday's Nelson Mail Nelson senior men's tennis open title.

A large number of Canterbury's top men entered the weekend tournament at the Tasman Tennis Centre although the women's draw was more of a local affair, with top seed Ashleigh Calder taking the double.

In the men's draw, the top Nelson players were all knocked out in the second round by Canterbury's top players.

Unseeded 16-year-old Canterbury junior, Jamie Poole, produced the tournament's major upset when he knocked out second seed Ollie Petri 7-5 6-1 in the second round. He continued his winning streak, knocking out fifth seed Hugo Nurse-Strang 2-6 7-6 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Poole then met Gareth Robb, third seed and last year's finalist, in the semifinals and lost 3-6 1-6. In the other semifinal, last year's winner Kingi struggled to a 7-5 7-6 win over Andy Palliser to set up a repeat of last year's final between Kingi and Robb.

But it was not to be Kingi's day, with the 2007 winner, Robb, getting his revenge with a convincing 6-0 6-3 win.

In the plate, local junior Hamish Low beat Dominic Winkler 9-5 in the semifinals, while brother Alex was knocked out by Petri 6-1 6-4. Low played some good tennis in the final, but Petri took the match and the plate final 6-3 6-3.

Meanwhile, Calder beat Taylor Cockburn 6-0 6-1 and Laura Wehner beat Amanda Coeland 6-3 6-0 in the women's semifinals.

Both players were fresh, having not dropped a set in their previous matches, although Calder dominated the first set 6-1. Wehner battled hard in the second set, but Calder took the match 6-1 6-4.

Calder then teamed up with Coeland to beat the mother and daughter combination of Tania and Jamie Erskine 6-1 6-0 in the women's doubles semifinal, while in the other semi, Loretta Hogg and Lyn Broughton beat Cockburn and Laura Roberts 6-0 6-1.

Youth prevailed in the final, with Calder and Coeland beating Hogg and Broughton 6-1 6-1.

The plate doubles final was won by Rachel Bell and Hannah Waine 3-6 6-2 10-3, with Bell also winning the singles plate final, beating Roberts 2-6 6-3 6-3.

In the men's doubles, local John Gardiner teamed up with Petri to lose 5-7 4-6 in their semifinal to Canterbury's Julian Main and Robb 5-7 4-6, while in the other semi, the Low brothers lost to Nurse-Strang and Kent Linyard, also of Canterbury, 0-6 3-6. However, the all-Canterbury final is to be played in Christchurch due to yesterday's afternoon rain.

The plate final also went to Canterbury, but locals Bo Ade-Simpson and Riley Quirk put up a good fight before going down 4-6 6-3 3-6 in a close three-setter.