Crunch games ahead for Lee 2nds against Chichester and Ventnor – Portsmouth Winter Tennis League round-up

There are three strong teams in Men’s Division 2 in the Portsmouth Winter Tennis League.
Avenue 2 v Warsash 2 (from left): Clive Buckle, Ross MacPherson, Ian Marks, Andy Gilliatt, Martin Doyle, Miles Quinn, Malcolm van
Rooyen, Jon FargharAvenue 2 v Warsash 2 (from left): Clive Buckle, Ross MacPherson, Ian Marks, Andy Gilliatt, Martin Doyle, Miles Quinn, Malcolm van
Rooyen, Jon Farghar
Avenue 2 v Warsash 2 (from left): Clive Buckle, Ross MacPherson, Ian Marks, Andy Gilliatt, Martin Doyle, Miles Quinn, Malcolm van Rooyen, Jon Farghar

Chichester lead the way, having played six matches and won them all. Ventnor have played five and only lost to Chichester, while Lee 2nds defeated CourtX 4-0 to record their third successive victory.

Lee 2nds take on Ventnor this weekend and Chichester the weekend after, and those two clashes will go a long way to determining who will remain in the second tier for another season.

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In the same division, Warsash 2nds shared the opening rubbers with Avenue 2nds before Ian Marks and Clive Buckle found their form for the Havant outfit, beating John Farghar and Malcom von Rooyen.

Warsash 4ths v Lee 4ths (from left): Matt Credo, Doug Jinks, Mike Betteridge, Jake Betteridge, Alex Westbrook , Jon Lee, Dan Thurgood.
Alwyn LewisWarsash 4ths v Lee 4ths (from left): Matt Credo, Doug Jinks, Mike Betteridge, Jake Betteridge, Alex Westbrook , Jon Lee, Dan Thurgood.
Alwyn Lewis
Warsash 4ths v Lee 4ths (from left): Matt Credo, Doug Jinks, Mike Betteridge, Jake Betteridge, Alex Westbrook , Jon Lee, Dan Thurgood. Alwyn Lewis

That backed up Andy Gilliatt and Ross Macpherson’s double success, leading to a 3-1 win and a welcome easing of relegation worries.

Men’s Division 3 is no less competitive. Lee 3rds pushed themselves into the promotion race with a 3-1 over pacesetters Seacourt, leaving four teams separated by just four points at the top.

Avenue 3rds took a lead from their second team and eased their relegation fears with a 3-1 win over JEM Tennis 2.

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Warsash 2nds - bottom of the Men’s Division 4 - dented Lee 4ths’ promotion hopes when they shared the rubbers 2-2. They claimed the extra winning draw point thanks to the set won by Matt Crebo and Doug Jinks in their losing rubber against Alwyn Lewis and Alex Westbrook.

That leaves the championship as a two-horse race between Carlton Green, who scored an impressive 4-0 win over Active Academy, and CourtX 4ths, who produced an equally fine 4-0 win over Rowlands Castle.

Barring a late-season collapse, Chichester 1sts all but wrapped up the Ladies 1 title when they shared the rubbers with nearest rivals Warsash. They took the winning draw points thanks to Nadine Doutre and Katica Robertson, who won both their rubbers for the loss of just four games overall.

Warsash won both the rubbers against Chichester’s second pair, but they conceded 13 games in doing so.

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Chichester ladies 2nds recorded a comfortable 3-1 against CourtX, enabling them to close to within a point of leaders Warsash 2nds, who could only share the rubbers with Avenue 2nds.

In Ladies 4, the first three rubbers in the Fishbourne v Alverstoke game went to match tie breaks, Alverstoke taking two of them. But the final rubber went to Fishbourne 6-0 6-0, allowing them to win 6-5 on sets countback.

The last two ladies matches saw wins for JEM Tennis, 3-1 against Rowlands Castle 1sts, and Wickham, 4-0 against Denmead.

The only mixed match saw Ryde Lawn 2 entertain CourtX, sharing the rubbers 2-2 but claiming the winning draw points thanks to the set won by Jon Brown and Suree Russell in a defeat against Christophe Hardy and Wendy Evans.

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Avenue continued their storming run through the midweek ladies masters competition with a 4-0 whitewash of rock bottom Warsash 1sts.

Chichester joined Ryde Lawn and CourtX in joint second place when they beat the Islanders 3-1.

Compiled by Alan Best

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