Please find details below of the Club tennis matches played and recorded since last Thursday: –

Portsmouth & District Tennis League

Ladies Division 2 – Avenue 3 beat CourtX 2 (3-1) – Alison Clarke, Becky Howarth, Katy Loh, Caroline MacDowell

Mixed Division 2 – Avenue 2 lost to CourtX (1-3) – Helen Watson, Peter Campbell, Denise Simper, Martyn Lawrenson

Mixed Division 2 – Avenue 3 lost to Bognor (1-3) – Katy Loh, Toby Arul-Pragasam, Becky Howarth, Paul Whittenham

Match report

Our first ever encounter with Bognor proved to be a tough assignment but one that saw plenty of great tennis. Katy and Toby won their first rubber in a Championship tie-break and came very close to repeating the feat in their second. Results in other matches today went our way which means we seem certain of staying in Division 2 next Summer. A fabulous achievement by my squad given the standard of the teams we have played against. Paul Whittenham

Mixed Division 4 – Avenue 4 losing draw v Wickham (2-2) – Adrian Drummond, Sheila Drummond, Netty Hart, Rob Mort

Match report

On the day the Lionesses taught us all about resilience and never giving up, Rob Mort and Netty Hart dug in from 6-9 down to win their championship tiebreak in the final rubber and secure a much-needed point in a losing draw at Wickham. OK so we won’t be lifting the division 4 trophy and there’ll be no bus ride, but it still felt pretty good at the time. Rob and Netty had just been squeezed out in another tiebreak in their first rubber while Adrian and Sheila won their first rubber, again in a tiebreak, but couldn’t back it up with a win in the second. Still there’s no mountain too high as the Lionesses would probably say. Bring on the next match! Adrian Drummond

Mixed Division 4 – Avenue 5 lost to Rowlands Castle (1-3) – Billie Shamash, Iain Lynch, Chris Hill, Steve Jones

Match report

Avenue 5 may have lost overall, but the team were delighted to win one rubber against Rowland’s Castle, a foursome who play regularly together and the ladies play our second team players in league matches.  Chris Hill and Steve Jones, playing as our first team, took a little while to settle into playing together, but in their second rubber they took the first set, winning on a tie-break.  Rowland’s Castle came back to take the second set but, undeterred, Avenue 5 kept their nerve, dug deep and won the third set tie-break 10-7.  Well done Chris and Steve. Billie Shamash

Ladies Masters Division 1 – Avenue 1 beat CourtX (4-0) – Gill Clarke, Liz Lim, Viola Masona, Katie Rowley

Ladies Masters Division 2 – Avenue 2 lost to Fishbourne (1-3) – Anne Treagust, Becky Howarth, Caron Howe, Dawn Wears

Match report

We played Fishbourne yesterday, unfortunately our team (Anne/Becky/Caron/Dawn) were unable to win, losing  3-1  7-4  46-36 which included 3 championship tie breaks. Jenny Ward

Mens Masters Division 2 – Avenue 2 winning draw v Ryde Mead (2-2) – Graham Cotterill, Matt Bennett, Adrian Drummond, Phil Tusler

Match report

Over-65 club champions Matt Bennett and Graham Cotterill renewed their successful double act to secure a winning draw against top-of-the-table Ryde Mead. The pair won both their rubbers, coming back from 2-5 in the second set against the islanders’ first pair to win 7-5. Adrian Drummond and Phil Tusler had their chances across the match and agonisingly lost two set tiebreaks, one from 6-3 up. But their haul of games contributed to the overall result – 2-2, 4-4, 43-40. Adrian Drummond

Portsmouth News Article

Last Saturday’s report can be found at the following link: Portsmouth & District LTA

Paul Whittenham