CourtX show they are serious top flight title contenders – Portsmouth Tennis League round-up

This time they defeated Lee, who had no answer to the skills of Alfie Reynolds and Ryan Anders, playing as first pair for CourtX, nor No 2 pair Toby Pallet and Billy Eales.

Anders featured in another CourtX whitewash the next day, when he and Lynn Candlish combined with Fi Goode and Terry Lawrence to overcome Chichester’s mixed 1 team for the loss of just nine games.

But Chichester’s ladies restored some pride for the Sussex outfit, beating Lee 2nds in Division 1. Three of the four team members then turned out again a couple of days later to beat Avenue 1sts in the midweek masters competition.

The youngsters from Ventnor have made a solid start in Men’s Division 2, clocking up two successive wins. But they were pushed hard by Avenue 2nds, who shared the rubbers 2-2 but lost a set in both encounters with Ventnor’s second pair, enabling the islanders to claim the winning draw points.

In Division 4, Chichester’s men’s 3rds, composed mainly of youth, made their league debut against Abshott. The rubbers were shared 2-2, but Sean Savage and Barney McLaren took the second set in their losing rubber against Paul Gordon and Ivacho Mesa, allowing the youngsters to take the winning draw points by 5 sets to 4.

Alverstoke 1sts and Southsea were the other winners in this division, the former sharing the rubbers with CourtX 4 but winning on games countback, the latter gaining a more comfortable win over Warsash 3rds.

Division 5 saw Rowlands Castle and Ryde Lawn 3rds fight out another match in which the rubbers were shared 2-2. The sets were also tied at 5-5, Ryde taking the extra winning draw point thanks to Roger Parrott and Tim Bell’s 6-1 6-1 victory in their second rubber, which gave Ryde a four-game winning margin overall.

Avenue 4ths rounded off the men’s results with a 4-0 victory over Ryde Mead 2nds.

Avenue were also winners in Mixed 3, their 3rd team hosting Ryde Lawn 2nds and sending them back home empty-handed, winning 3-1.

Avenue Mixed 5 were unable to keep the club’s winning run going, losing 4-0 to Alverstoke 2nds.

The final mixed match of the weekend saw Wickham open their season with a narrow win. In another match which ended with the rubbers and sets shared, the games countback showed Wickham had won six more than Lee.

Just two ladies matches were played at the weekend. Avenue and Ryde Lawn both have two teams in the ladies first division and on this occasion it was the second teams that met, Avenue winning all four rubbers in straight sets.

In Division 4, Denmead hosted Lee, with the visitors gaining a hard fought 3-1 victory.

The midweek competitions are now in full swing, aided by a run of fine weather. The two mixed rubbers in the match between Warsash and Chichester were shared, Warsash taking a slender lead on games.

Rory Cavanagh and Nigel Marks won the men v men’s rubber for Chichester, wiping out Warsash’s half-time games advantage and leaving Warsash’s Joanne Kelly and Karen Kirwan needing to win the final rubber by three games or more to claim the winning draw points.

A first set win at 7-5 put victory in sight but Suzanne Troy and Jill Lawson took the second set to 6-6 to set up a nerve tingling tie-break. A win for the latter would ensure they won the match, regardless of the outcome of the final set. But a win for Kelly and Kirwan would mean the winning draw points going to them by a single game.

Troy and Lawson took a 5-3 lead, but Kelly and Kirwan levelled at 5-5. The Chichester pair then had a set (and virtual match) point at 6-5, but it was not to be. Three successive points for the Warsash couple took them to 8-6 and with it the winning draw!