CourtX could be set for Portsmouth Summer Tennis League title hat-trick

But in doing so they confirmed that CourtX 1 would lift the title for the first time since the club was opened at the refurbished Canoe Lake courts.

And with CourtX 2 having also secured the men’s Division 2 title, and their 4ths challenging strongly for the Division 3 crown, there could be celebrations all round on the sea front.

Having narrowly lost the title-decider in men’s 2 to CourtX the previous week, Avenue 2 were involved in another nail-biter. Taking on Ryde Lawn 1, in a match in which the

winner would clinch promotion as runners-up, the teams shared the opening rubbers, Ryde taking a four-game advantage into the reverse rubbers.

And when James Smith and Finbar Tellwright beat Ros Macpherson and Tom Dow in the 1s v 1s rubber, it was clearly advantage Ryde.

Their second pair just needed five games to win the match on games countback and they were well on course when Matt Olive and Simon Jenkin won three of them in the first set.

But Matt Lee and Lloyd Sampson then hit top gear for Avenue to storm home 6-0 in the final set, good enough to give their team the winning draw points – and promotion – by just one game.

Avenue 4 severely dented Chichester 3’s chances of gaining promotion from Division 4 when they edged home by 6 sets to 4 in a 10-set marathon.

Their nearest rivals, Southsea 1, still have two games to play and need to gain 4 points to overhaul the leaders. But both those matches are against Avenue 4 and so the Sussex-based team can still hold out some hopes.

Men’s Division 5 has been closely fought all season but having edged past nearest rivals Rowlands Castle last month, Ryde Lawn 3 have won three more matches, the latest against Warsash 4, to secure the title.

The two points that Ryde Mead ladies took from their winning draw with Avenue 3 will almost certainly be enough for them to claim the Division 2 title, with one point from their final match against Warsash 2 needed.

In Division 3, Alverstoke failed to beat Abshot in their final match, handing the title to Rowlands Castle, while in Division 4 Steep’s 4-0 win over Chichester 3 completed their season as unbeaten champions.

In Division 5, Denmead waited until their last match before claiming their first win, having shared the rubbers and sets with Lee 4 but before taking the points on games countback 35-33.

The weekend mixed competitions are also nearing completion. In the two matches completed at the weekend, CourtX continued their unbeaten run in Division 2, winning all

four rubbers against Ryde Lawn 1, and hence setting up a winner takes all title decider against Avenue 2.

Meanwhile, in Division 4, Wickham beat Avenue 4 3-1 in a match involving three match tie breaks, all won by Wickham.

Avenue 1 finished off the midweek mixed Division 1 programme by beating Ryde Lawn 2 3-1, while the last match in Division 2 saw Ryde Lawn 3 beat Carlton Green by the

same score.

Ladies 1 remains alive, with a title decider between Avenue 1 and Swanmore 1 to be played in early September.

Wins for Denmead (3-1 over Swanmore 2) and Ryde Lawn 2 (3-1 over Avenue 2) only shuffled the teams in mid-table, Warsash having already secured the title.

In the men’s midweek masters, Swanmore’s 3-1 win over nearest rivals Chichester clinched the title in their first season in the league.

Wellow eased past Warsash and now look favourites to finish second, while CourtX and Fishbourne will both finish mid-table after CourtX won their match 4-0.