Avenue ladies 2nds remain in championship hunt... Portsmouth Tennis Centre's title hopes dented

Warsash ladies 2nds completed their season with a rough crossing to the Isle of Wight to take on Ventnor

The trip was well worth it though, as they returned with all three points to secure their Division 2 status.

Karen Kirwan and Joanne Kelly scored a double for Warsash then Karen Downie and Janet Armitage backed them up with a straight sets victory.

Avenue ladies 2nds kept their Division 3 championship hopes alive with 4-0 win over Wickham.

In Division 4, Lee 4ths and Alverstoke played out the first round of rubbers in dreadful conditions, sharing the scoring.

But with Lee’s Wendy Hadfield and Jacqui Hyde picking up a set in their losing rubber, Lee had the advantage.

As the rain fell more heavily, the second round of rubbers were abandoned as Lee took the winning draw points on set countback.

With the poor weather at the start of this year and two Isle of Wight-based teams in men's Division 2, it is no surprise things are well behind schedule.

Just one of the outstanding matches was played at the weekend, Avenue 2nds scoring their first success of the winter with an easy win over Warsash 2nds to leave five teams in real danger.

In Division 3, the championship was always going to be decided by the match between the two unbeaten heavyweights - Chichester and Portsmouth Tennis Centre.

Both teams boasted first pairs that were much stronger than the second string, this meant the match was always likely to be decided on games - and that’s how it turned out.

The first round of rubbers, which puts the top pair against the seconds, highlighted the gulf between the pairs, with PTC losing just 2 games and Chichester winning in straight sets.

Portsmouth made sure of at least a draw when Macca Neaves and his partner beat previously unbeaten Matt Worden and Stuart Barber 6-2, 6-4.

But Jimmy Marks and Adam Kamruddin levelled the rubbers with a 6-1, 6-1 win.

It left Chichester with the winning draw points and, almost certainly, the championship.

Chichester’s 2nd men’s team have also had a good season.

They clinched promotion to Division 3 when they recorded a sixth successive win by overcoming Fishbourne 3-1.

Another league that has been badly hit by the weather is men's Division 5.

Warsash 3rds were brave enough to ignore the winds and crossed the Solent to take on Ryde Mead.

However, their spirit wasn’t rewarded with a win as Ryde ran out 3-1 winners.

The top mixed division always produces more matches where the rubbers are shared 2-2 than any other.

This weekend proved no different, with the two matches played producing 2-2 results.

Unbeaten Lee took on leaders Warsash and as often happens the first round of rubbers, they were shared.

Lee’s Gemma Rogers and Dan Eldred went on to edge out PG Udal and Martin Wilkinson, leaving the match-up between the respective first pairs to decide the match.

Ian Udal and Victoria Pine took the first set for Warsash but Andrea Jackson and Aaron Blackman levelled.

Udal and Pine had to win the match tie-break to claim a point and they did.

However, Lee claimed the extra winning draw point thanks to the set won in the final rubber to leave them favourites for the championship.

The other mixed match saw Ryde Lawn and Ventnor share the spoils.

But Lawn claiming the winning draw by five sets to four.

Midweek action saw wins for Avenue men’s masters team (4-0 v Warsash); Avenue mixed masters 2nds (5-4 v Ryde Lawn 2nds) and Carlton Green mixed masters (3-1 v Lee).