Chris Nott and Josh Gwynne are the 2026-27 Yealands Marlborough senior men’s residential doubles tennis champions, claiming the Botham Cup under blue skies at the Marlborough Tennis Centre on Sunday, October 18.
The women’s crown was taken out by Nicole Logan and Annabelle Fluit, who took home the Walsh Cup. With only four duos participating in the women’s draw the title was decided by a round-robin of matches, each pair playing against the other three opponents. Runners-up were Issey O’Brien and Heidi Stenhouse-Allen. Nicole and Annabell, Issey and Heidi, plus Joey Beckett and Cathy Kitto each won two matches, the titles being decided on countback.
The men’s draw was much larger, with 14 pairings involved.
After a first-round bye, the top-seeded Chris and Josh beat Glen Cameron and Hamish Milne 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals, then got past third seeds Stu Campbell and Jared Bell 6-4, 6-1 in the semis before accounting for Jaco van Hensbergen and Stephen Dempster 6-4, 6-2 in the title decider.
To reach the final, Jaco and Stephen upset second seeds Hamish McRae and Hamish Morrow 6-1, 6-3 in the quarters, then overcame Flynn Weaver and Callum Wells 6-1, 4-6, 10-5 in a super tiebreak semi.
Premier play
After a rain-interrupted start to the Winebrokers NZ Marlborough Interclub Premiership the previous week, play finally got underway on Wednesday, 21 October.
First round winners were Renwick CPR who beat Rapaura Noir 6-1, Rapaura Blanc, who downed Marlborough Rimu 5-2 and Rapaura Rose, who overcame 2025 champions Marlborough Kahikatea 5-2.
The format is the same as previous years, the tie starting with two men's doubles, followed by a women's double. Then the players split up to play three men's singles and one women's single.
On Monday and Tuesday evenings various teams take part in the WK+ Marlborough Interclub Championship (formerly the President's grade competition). This competition is split into grade 1, 2, 2B and 4 divisions and has been running for two weeks so far this season.
