Claire Bownass and Chris Hill record rare Portsmouth Tennis League half-century

The maximum number of games a pair can play is 54 – two rubbers both being scored at 7-6 6-7 1-0 (the 1-0 being how the final match tie break is scored).

Well, Avenue 4ths pair Claire Bownass and Chris Hill recorded the first half century of the season when they played three 7-6 tie break sets in the 51 games it took them to win both their rubbers against Southsea.

Teammates Sally Barwood and Linda Barber were also involved in two tie breaks, taking the match total to five - all won by Avenue, as they edged home 3-1 on rubbers.

Tie breaks were also to the fore at the mixed masters match between Ryde Mead and Rowlands Castle. And, once again, all five were won by one team- Castle romping to victory in a game that could very easily have gone the other way!

Remarkably, there were five more tie breaks when Fishbourne took on Wickham in the ladies masters. Fishbourne won the two match tie breaks, to enable them to share the rubbers 2-2, but Wickham’s first pair won the 1v 1s rubber with ease, enabling them to claim the winning draw points by 46 games to 38.

There was no need for tie breaks in the men’s Division 1 match between Chichester and Ryde Lawn. Their 4-0 win leaves the Sussex team tied at the top of the league with reigning champions Warsash. Appropriately, the two teams meeting to decide the title on March 12.

Avenue eased past Lee 3-1 but both teams have already secured their positions in the top flight for next year.

Avenue kept their faint Division 2 promotion hopes alive with a 4-0 win over Chichester 2nds, while Lee 3rds and Alverstoke shared the rubbers and sets in the bottom of the table clash, the former scraping home by just two games.

Both the men’s Division 3 matches also ended with the rubbers and sets shared, leaders Chichester 3rds taking the winning draw points against CourtX 4ths by 5 sets to 4, while CourtX 3rds edged out Lee 4ths by just four games.

Ventnor got their mixed Division 2 season back on track by playing two games in successive days, winning seven of the eight rubbers against CourtX and Lee to consolidate their position at the top of the league.

Warsash ladies continued their recovery from a slow start to the season, their 3-1 victory over Chichester just about killing off the latter’s title chances and leaving themselves level with Avenue with two matches to play.

Warsash ladies 2 also played two matches in two days. After five successive defeats, they trounced CourtX 2nds 4-0 but then lost 3-1 to CourtX.

Midweek action saw Swanmore beat leaders Avenue 3-1, leaving the door wide open for Chichester, who now only need a winning draw in their last match to claim the title. A 3-1 win for Wellow against CourtX eased their relegation fears.

Division 2 saw both Warsash teams in action, and both winning 4-0 - the firsts against an injury-hit Avenue 2nds, and the seconds against Ryde Lawn 2nds.

Tied league matches are quite rare, but the mixed masters Division 1 match between Swanmore and Wellow - which ended with rubbers, sets and games all shared - wasn’t even the first in that division this season.

David Lloyd’s hopes of claiming the title faded when they were held to a winning draw by Avenue while Ryde Lawn 2nds scuppered Chichester’s runners-up chance with a 3-1 success.

The clash between the top two in Division 2 went the way of the unbeaten leaders, Warsash, but by the smallest margin. With rubbers and sets shared equally, the 6-0 set won by Karen Kirwan and Michael Isaacs against Avenue’s Angie Brown and Mark Fullstone enabled Warsash to sneak the winning draw points by three games.