Junior tennis stars rise to challenge

The National Tennis Centre in Nikao hosted thrilling tennis matches last Saturday for the start of the ANZ stars tournament.

The tournament for under 10, under 8 and junior elite squad members was hotly contested by budding tennis stars and those who lost their games still have 4 weeks to polish up their swings and rise up the ranks.

In the under 10 division Jack Sutherland is the player to beat as he leads the tournament and as the number one seeded boys player.

He is closely followed by Luke Rous who heads the under 8 division.

Third is Liandro Vakatini and Taylor Sutherland is the leading under 10 girls player and ranked 4th overall.

Fifth is Zsaleya Sword-Tua followed by Manamea Koteka in 6th, Elliot Weir in 7th, Kaveariki Nia is 8th, Fin Pearson is 9th and Marcel is in 10th place.

In the under 8 division Luke Rous is the outright leader followed by Ethan Sutherland, Zsaleya Sword, Siana Short, Robert Healy, Kaveariki Nia, Maka Ponia and Ruby Bragger.

In the junior elite squad tournament Andrew Terupe has risen up the ranks to be the number one seeded player in the division.

Kiana Sword-Tua is holding her own against the boys and is ranked second in the division followed by Ryan Denis, Jeial Shaheem, Gino Denis, Tatiana Vakatini, Elijah Amataiti and Jack Sutherland.

This Saturday under 18 tennis stars will take to the courts with games starting at 1pm and the junior under 10, 8 and under 15 players will return to the court next Saturday.

Tennis coach Malcolm Kajer is accepting enrolments for tennis lessons and any youngster wanting to play the game will be accommodated in the various ANZ Bank sponsored tennis development programmes.