James Murphy
WET and stormy weather plagued Round 6 of Mount Gambier and District tennis on Saturday.
While junior grades enjoyed a bye for the Christmas parade, senior competition was played as usual, which kicked off with Division 1 tennis on Friday night.
That was followed by Division 2 and 3 on Saturday, with the latter showing the strength of the top teams.
West Gambier hosted Moorak for a one-sided clash.
They managed to complete all 12 matches before the storm set in and at the end of the day West won every set.
The top men’s singles was won by Toby Stutley with a clean sheet 6-0 over Aaron Pettingill, while Justin Robinson also defeated Chris Tully 6-0 and Peyton Robinson accounted for Stewart Kanahs 6-2.
For the women Rylee Kuchel was untroubled by Jodie McInnes and won 6-0.
Kyra Kuchel (6-1) and Layla McPherson (6-2) continued West’s winning trend with victories over Charlotte Patzel and Brooke Hammond respectively.
In the doubles it was more of the same, with the closest result a 6-2 win by Kyra Kuchel and McPherson over Patzel and Hammond.
The other sets were won 6-0 or 6-1 as West claimed a stinging victory, which rewarded it with a maximum 72 games, while Moorak managed just 11.
The other two Round 6 clashes were not fully completed.
Over at Suttontown, its meeting with Mount Gambier was washed out after just six sets had been played, resulting in a draw.
Meanwhile, the fixture between Uniting and Mil Lel was called short, but enough sets had been played to register a result.
With just three uncompleted matches, Uniting’s 9-0 set lead secured it the points for the round.
In the singles, Uniting’s Sergio Cesaro had the closest battle, as he defeated Riley Boneham 6-4.
The remainder of the completed sets were won convincingly.
That included the doubles, where the closest margins were 6-3, in both Annie Bogaerts’ sets in combination with Kiersten Cole and Pip Crowe.
The win has now bumped Uniting up to second on the ladder above Gambier, while West remains in top spot with an undefeated record from five games.
Looking ahead to Round 7 and teams will hope for more pleasant conditions as we approach the midpoint of the home-and-away season.
