Favourites take out titles

Favourites take out titles

The Big Barrel New Zealand Doubles Championships finals have concluded with the top seeds taking out the titles in the Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Open’s. It was a good weekend for New Zealand’s top player Joelle King and the inform Evan Williams who both claimed two titles.

The Men’s Open final saw Williams team up with Lance Beddoes and they took on last year’s defending champions Scott Galloway and Corey Love both from Wellington. Galloway and Love had made a huge effort to reach the final after being seeded seventh this year and they upset the second seeds Ben Grinrod and Chris van der Salm in the semi-final. Williams and Beddoes had been ruthless all tournament with their left and right hand combination working well. A tight first set was played between the pairs with Williams and Beddoes taking it 11 – 9. In the second Williams and Beddoes started to take control with Love in particular starting to fatigue. Love had only an hour earlier taken out the Masters final with his partner Willie Bicknell and was coming to an end of a hectic weekend schedule having played in three different draws. Williams and Beddoes took it out in straight sets 11 – 9, 11 – 6.

The Women’s Open final was set to be a close clash with NZ number one Joelle King and her partner Amanda Landers Murphy taking on the experienced Shelley Kitchen and up and comer Megan Craig. The match did not live up to pre-game anticipation with King and Landers Murphy dominating from the outset. The partnership of Kitchen and Craig seemed a step behind the whole match and made too many errors. Kitchen and Craig rallied in the second set but it was too little too late with King and Landers Murphy winning in straight sets 11 – 3, 11 – 8.

Undoubtedly the match of the tournament was the Mixed Open final between four New Zealand reps Williams and King who played Beddoes and Landers Murphy. Two left and right hand combinations took on each other which meant Williams took the left hand wall against Landers Murphy and Beddoes the right hand wall with King. There was a lot of cross court action and the match started as a smash fest with neither team looking to go short. Williams and King made the least amount of errors in the first set and started with an 11 – 5 win. The next two sets ebbed and flowed with each team going point for point. Beddoes and Landers Murphy won the second 11 – 10 by winning the sudden death point at 10 all. Williams and King started the best in the third but Beddoes and Landers Murphy would not let them go. Once again the set got to 10 all, match ball, championship ball. After a long exchange Beddoes hit the tin but as he did he called a ‘let’ as he clipped King on his backswing. The referee agreed and the point was replayed. Another intense rally took place and ended with Landers Murphy sending the ball over the back glass after being forced to the front by Williams. Williams and King were victors 11 – 5, 10 – 11, 11 -10.

Men’s Open – Quarter finals

Evan Williams/Lance Beddoes beat Jason Burton Brown/Croydon Rutherford 11 – 5, 11 - 6

Scott Gardiner/Jason Oxenham lost to Kashif Shuja/Victor Romero 8 – 11, 11 – 8, 9 - 11

Zac Millar/Richard Pittams lost to Scott Galloway/Corey Love 11 – 8, 10 -11, 5 - 11

Willie Bicknell/Sam Atkins lost to Chris van der Salm/Ben Grinrod 11 – 5, 6 – 11, 6 -11

Men’s Open – Semi Finals

(1) Evan Williams/Lance Beddoes beat Kashif Shuja/Victor Romero 11 – 3, 11 - 3

Scott Galloway/Corey Love beat (2) Chris van der Salm/Ben Grinrod 11 – 6, 11 - 9

Men’s Open – Final

(1) Evan Williams/Lance Beddoes beat Scott Galloway/Corey Love 11 – 9, 11 – 6

Women’s Open - Semi Finals

(1) Joelle King/Amanda Landers-Murphy beat Kaitlyn Watts/Casey Owen 11 – 3, 11 - 5

(3) Danielle Fourie/Rebecca Barnett lost to (2) Megan Craig/Shelley Kitchen 10 – 11, 8 - 11

Women’s Open - Final

(1) Joelle King/Amanda Landers-Murphy beat Megan Craig/Shelley Kitchen 11 – 3, 11 – 8

Mixed Open - Quarter Finals

(1) Evan Williams/Joelle King beat (9) Victor Romero/Danielle Fourie 11 – 5, 11 - 6

(5) Zac Millar/Emma Millar lost to (4) Scott Galloway/Shelley Kitchen 4 – 11, 9 - 11

(3) Ben Grinrod/Megan Craig beat (6) Willie Bicknell/Rebecca Barnett 11 – 9, 8 – 11, 11 - 3

(7) Kashif Shuja/Holly Donnelly lost to (2) Lance Beddoes/Amanda Landers Murphy 6 – 11, 7 - 11

Mixed Open – Semi Finals

(1) Evan Williams/Joelle King beat (4) Scott Galloway/Shelley Kitchen 11 – 2, 11 - 7

(3) Ben Grinrod/Megan Craig lost to (2) Lance Beddoes/Amanda Landers Murphy 11 – 8, 11 - 9

Mixed Open – Final

(1) Evan Williams/Joelle King beat (2) Lance Beddoes/Amanda Landers Murphy 11 – 5, 10 – 11, 11 - 10

ENDS

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