By Jonathan Leask  November 7 2011

The first round honours in Mid Canterbury open grade tennis will be decided in the final round after Dorie caused the upset beating the previously undefeated Fairton.

The result saw Fairton's lead at the top of the table cut to just one point ahead of Dorie with results in round five to determine who wins the Mid Canterbury Shield on November 19.
Methven was the big mover, jumping two places to sit in third with a whitewash over Allenton while Ruapuna and Hampstead played out the closest match of the season so far.
But the big news on court was Dorie beating Fairton 4-2 on matches to close the gap at the top.
Dorie's Rhys Cromie and James Boag extended their unbeaten partnership beating Peter Leonard and Rebecca Robinson 6-3, 7-5 but Fairton levelled the scores with Phil Crozier and Toby Thomas claiming a 7-5, 6-2 win over Sam Benny and Todd Boag.
In the singles Cromie was again unbeatable sweeping Leonard 6-0, 6-0 while James Boag's beat Robinson 6-4, 6-2 and the win came courtesy of Todd Boag getting up in the super tiebreak to beat Thomas 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-2).
Fairton's only win in the singles went to Crozier 6-2, 6-1 over Benny, but was a critical win seeing Fairton hold onto first place by one point.
Ruapuna and Hampstead delivered the closest contest of the season with Ruapuna edging out a win 54 games to 53 on count back after the teams were tied at three matches each and had the same amount of sets.
The doubles results were split with Ruapuna's top seeds Jayden Cromie and Michael Bell losing to Tony Brosnahan and Joseph Langley 4-6, 2-6 but DJ Danielson and Rosemary Hinchliffe beat Devin Francis and William Blacklow 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6) to level things up.
In the singles the top seeds Brosnahan and Jayden Cromie played out a thriller but Brosnahan came back from a set down to finish on top 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (11-13).
The Hampstead top seeds made it a clean sweep with Langley getting the better of Bell 6-2, 6-0.
However, Danielson's 6-1, 6-3 win over Francis and Hinchliffe beating Blacklow 6-4, 6-4 proved enough for Ruapuna to win by the barest of margins.
With result being determined by a single game nearby, Methven went in the other direction taking a 6-0 win over Allenton.
In the doubles matches Methven's Andrew Hunt and Peter Withers beat Neil Fowler and Ryan Gutsell 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) and Ryan Hampton and Nicky Reidy 7-5, 6-4 over Mitchell Baxter and Ashleigh Leonard.
With both doubles matches lost Allenton's winless season got worse in the singles as Fowler lost to Hunt 4-6, 2-6, Gutsell lost to Withers 2-6, 5-7, Baxter lost to Hampton 3-6, 3-6 and Leonard lost to Reidy 1-6, 3-6 to complete the rout.

Pictured: Dorie's James Boag returns a forehand during his doubles clash on Saturday. Boag and partner Rhys Cromie continued their unbeaten run this season with a win over Peter Leonard and Rebecca Robinson.

Photo Kirsty Graham