Chichester continue storming start – Portsmouth Winter Tennis League round-up

CourtX v Warsash. Back (from left): Amanda Freeman, Grace Saunders, Wendy Evans, Karen Downie, Jo Kelly, Karen Kirwan. Front: Claire Keiditsch. Mandy Richardson

It was their fourth successive victory, during which they have only lost a solitary rubber, writes ALAN BEST.

They were threatened only briefly in their latest success, when Ben Starmer-Smith and 13-year-old debutant Toby Trotman held Joe Glover and Stuart Marks to a 5-7 score line in the first set of their rubber.

Chichester’s nearest rivals, CourtX 2nds, also notched up an impressive 4-0 victory in their fourth game, at Warsash 2nds. The hosts could only manage 13 games in eight sets, with CourtX pairings Pete Clark/Ollie Neale and Dave Robertson/Rob Fairall dominating.

Ryde Lawn 2 v Chichester (from left): Joe Glover, Matt Worden, Jimmy Marks, Stuart Marks, Ben Starmer-Smith, David Cartwright, Dan Jones, Toby Trotman.

The only other men’s match, between Lee 4ths and Southsea, was a totally different affair. The opening rubbers were shared, with Lee having a five-game advantage at this point.

But Southsea took the opening set in both the reverse rubbers and John Kemble and Andre Santos put them ahead with a win over Guy Kidd and Alwyn Lewis.

Dan Thurgood and Jon Lee levelled their rubber, winning the second set 6-4, and went on to level the match at 2-2. Southsea, though, had done enough to claim the winning draw points by 5 sets to 4.

Chichester’s ladies 1sts mirrored the performance of their men’s team with, if anything, an even more comfortable 4-0 over Avenue 1sts.

Ryde Lawn ladies 1 kept their unbeaten record intact having shared the rubbers 2-2 with Lee 1sts, but with the advantage of winning 5-4 on sets.

There was another close match in ladies division 2. CourtX 1 and Warsash shared the opening rubbers, with the former holding a four-game advantage.

There was little to choose between the two teams in the reverse rubbers and they were once again shared. Try as they did, Warsash were barely able to reduce their halfway deficit and CourtX took the winning draw point 39- 36 on games.

There was an almost identical result for CourtX’s ladies 2nds against Seacourt. Dawn Dewilde and Caroline Hardy notched up a double for CourtX, with their 6-2 6-2 victory over Jane Robertson and Caroline MacDowell a decisive factor in their four-game winning margin.

Other ladies results saw Southsea beat Rowlands Castle 2 4-0 and Stubbington beat Denmead by the same score.

In mixed Division 2, Jem Tennis eased to a third successive win, 4-0 against CourtX, while Ryde Lawn 2nds drew 2-2 with Warsash 2nds but claimed the winning draw points on games countback, 37-31.

No countbacks were necessary in the final two mixed matches, Lee beating Chichester 4-0 and Rowlands Castle overcoming Alverstoke 2nds by a similar score.

Ryde Lawn 1sts fielded a strong team to defeat reigning champions David Lloyd West End, while Wellow made the long journey to Chichester worthwhile by claiming a winning draw via a 6-4 sets success.

CourtX ladies finished off a good week for the club with a 4-0 win in the ladies masters against Warsash, while Avenue and Rowlands Castle finally played after a triple postponement due to bad weather - Avenue winning 3-1.