Sharrock serves up magic on court - May 2016

Former WHS student Sharrock, who attends Massey University for a sports degree and is assistant coach of the national under-15 and U19 teams, had previously won the doubles and mixed doubles crowns at the Taranaki Open late last year.

In the singles grade at Manawatu on Friday, Sharrock was disappointed to be knocked out in the quarter-finals by fellow Manawatu player Josh Curry, after he had beaten New Zealand U15 rep Tiany Xie in the first round.

"It turned out to be a marathon three-set match that lasted over an hour and 10 minutes, with each of the three sets being decided by only two points the difference," he said.

Then on Saturday was the men's and mixed doubles, with Sharrock teaming with established partner Ernest Sulivan, an Indonesian student, as the No1 seeds in the men's draw.

After two easy wins, they went up against the No2 seeds Jacob Morgon, and Caleb O'Connor-Chen in the final, but lost 21-19 21-15.

"Morgon is an old rival of mine on the court, having played against each other since around 2009, but over the years of playing against and with each other, we have developed a great friendship," Sharrock said.

"We fight it out, and sadly it is to say, that again this time, he and partner Chen got the better of us.

"Ernest and I had a debrief after the game, and had no problem admitting that our serving and return of serve severely let us down in the final."

Having not yet done himself justice, Sharrock re-focused for the afternoon's mixed doubles, with him and Devathasan having been Taranaki champions.

(Wanganui Chronicle 13/5/16)