Mike Stapp showed excellent fighting qualities in taking out the South Canterbury residential men’s singles title. Down 1-3 in the final against Edward Winchester he rallied to win the next 3 games to take the title 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8. Winchester was off to a flyer taking the first two games before Stapp took the third 12-10. Winchester’s first singles title was within reach when he comfortably won the fourth for a 3-1 lead however Stapp continued to fight and got back to 2-3. The 6th game saw Stapp charge to a 9-1 lead. Winchester came back to 8-9 before a couple of missed shots gave Stapp the game 11-9 and it was level at 3-3. The deciding game had Winchester in front at 7-4 however Stapp’s good defence and more Winchester errors saw Stapp hold 2 match points at 10-8. He only needed one with a cracking forehand clinching the win, consigning Winchester to his third straight loss in the final.

Earlier in his semi-final against defending champion Tim Underdown, Stapp also had to come back from 1-3 down, saving a match point in the 5th game. Having snatched this crucial 5th game 14-12 he then ran away with the next two games to win 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-5, 11-5.

Winchester’s semi-final was a hard fought victory over the top seed, Frank Cleverley.
Winchester took an early lead and while Cleverley managed to level the scores at 2-2 Winchester strolled through the 5th game before completing his victory 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8.

The women’s singles title was between multiple champion Louise Sandri and Kyra Portis, who moved to Timaru from Christchurch at the beginning of the year. Portis won the first game 11-5 and thereafter Sandri seemed to be in catch up mode. With the scores level at 3-3 it was Portis who made the winning break taking the title 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8.