 2020 Auckland Women’s Singles Champion Jade Otway |
 2020 Auckland Men’s Singles Champion Ajeet Rai |
The 2020 Auckland Championships were contested at Scarbro Tennis Centre over the final few days of November, with a strong lineup reflecting the depth of young talent coming through the system over the past few years.
The competition had strong fields in both singles and doubles, with qualifying taking place on Saturday followed by two days of main draw entertainment.
The Men’s final was a see-saw affair which provided a match of both rally and touch, with top seeded Ajeet Rai taking on third seed Isaac Becroft, who’d overcome qualifier Corban Crowther in a three set battle the day prior.
The final produced some moments of the highest quality with the two players providing a contrast in style.
Becroft’s solid groundstrokes and impressive work-rate (betrayed by his sweat-sodden tee-shirt) underpinned an intention to run down everything that came to him. Rai’s high-kicking second serve worked well for him, along with flair and solid shot making that was at times audacious but definitely effective.
Having had, and lost, a match point on the Becroft serve at 4-5 in the final set, Rai moved to two more at 6-5, 40-15. A long rally ended in Becroft’s favour before Rai delivered a terrific first serve and even more terrific off-forehand to finish the match and take the 2020 Auckland Men’s Championship title.
In the Men’s Doubles, third seeds Nick Beamish and Anton Shepp put in a solid effort to overcome Dan Brown and Daniel Persson in a three set battle, finally overcoming the top seeded pair 2-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8.
In the Women’s competition, the withdrawal through injury of two of New Zealand’s Federation Cup (Billie Jean King Cup) players prior to the start of the event gave the opportunity for New Zealand’s top junior women to show their talent.
The final was played between two talented teenagers, with top seed Vivian Yang (15) from North Harbour taking on Tennis Central’s Jade Otway (17) seeded second. It proved to be Otway’s day as her excellent serving and consistency off the ground carried her to a convincing win 6-2 6-1 in 85 minutes.
On Sunday afternoon Yang paired with Aucklander Sasha Situe to beat Jade Otway and Sofia Shing in the women’s doubles final, 6-2 7-5.
Congratulations to all those who took part. Click here to see full draws and results .
