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NZ Doubles Titles Claimed for 2015Mixed Doubles Final resized

With many of the Commonwealth Games stars of 2014 not competing for the NZ Doubles titles this year it left the field wide open for our other top athletes to come in and try to take one of the coveted titles.

In front of a good crowd at SquashGym, local players Kashif Shuja and Victor Romero took to the court against Wellington pair Scott Galloway and Corey Love and they played out a thriller. Shuja and Romero took the first set before most of the crowd had settled into their seats, 11 – 2. This was a wakeup call for Galloway and Love who fought back hard to take the second 11 – 6. Galloway played out of his skin down the backhand wall where he matched up against former world number 36 Shuja. He often ripped winners and his error count was very low. His ability to match Shuja shot for shot allowed them to attack partner Romero who made some tired errors in the second set. Shuja and Romero re grouped for the third and final set and it was a see saw battle. At 7 – 6 down, Shuja and Romero made three straight errors to give Galloway and Love five championship balls. Shuja and Romero dug deep to win the next two points but it was all too late with Galloway and Love taking the match 11 – 9.

The Women’s Open was fairly straight forward for the home club pair of Danielle Fourie and Rebecca Barnett. After the first round the top three teams went into a round robin against each other. Fourie and Barnett never dropped a set all tournament and beat Sally Guest and Mikayla Kerr 11 – 4, 11 – 7 on Saturday morning. They then beat Joanna Shanks and Holly Donnelly on Saturday afternoon 11 – 4, 11 – 7 after Shanks and Donnelly had lost to Guest and Kerr earlier in the day. The pair showed why they are number 5 and 6 in New Zealand for singles play. 

Arguably the match of the tournament was the mixed open final between siblings Zac and Emma Millar of Wellington, and the Barnett twins, Johnny and Rebecca. All four originate from Wellington and are around the same age so have played each other countless times. The Barnett’s got off to the best start taking the first set 11 – 6. The rest of the match you could barely split the pairs. The Barnett’s had a match ball at 10 – 9 in the second and the Millar’s were awarded a questionable ‘let’ which had the crowd divided on which way the call should have gone. The Millar’s then won the next two points to take the match to a third and deciding set. The back and forward match continued throughout the set and it came down to one point as the match reached 10 all. It was going to be the Millar’s day as Emma hit a great forehand drive that caught a nick at the back of the court that Rebecca Barnett could not return.

Men’s Open – Final

Scott Galloway/Corey Love beat Kashif Shuja/Victor Romero 2 – 11, 11 – 6, 11 - 9

Women’s Open – Round Robin

Rebecca Barnett/Danielle Fourie beat Mikayla Kerr/Sally Guest 11 – 4, 11 - 7

Joanna Shanks/Holly Donnelly lost to Mikayla Kerr/Sally Guest 7 – 11, 4 -11

Rebecca Barnett/Danielle Fourie beat Joanna Shanks/Holly Donnelly 11 – 4, 11 – 7

Winners - Rebecca Barnett/Danielle Fourie

Mixed Open – Final

Zac Millar/Emma Millar beat Barnett/Rebecca Barnett 6 – 11, 11 – 10, 11 - 10


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