Southsea and Fishbourne’s four-hour marathon, with no winner – Portsmouth Winter Tennis League round-up

Cricket is the main exception – think a five-day Test match – but tennis is one of the few other exceptions.

And after Fishbourne played Southsea in a four-hour Portsmouth Winter League mixed masters match in which the maximum 12 sets were played, with the rubbers shared 2-2, the sets 6-6 and the games 39-39, their captain Jazz Kimbell said it felt like playing in a five-day match!

That was the closest match in a week when the traditional competitiveness returned, after the previous week’s spate of one-sided encounters.

Indeed, Southsea all but managed another tie when their weekend mixed doubles team hosted Ryde Lawn 3rds. Once again, the sets and rubbers were shared, but the home team edged the winning draw points by just a single game, 37 to 36.

There must have been something in the sea air around Southsea, because a third team from that club, Men’s 1, also shared the rubbers 2-2 against Lee 4ths. And with their second pair John Campbell and Surang Sharma winning a set in their losing rubber against Dave Walker and Alwyn Lewis, that was enough to give them the winning draw points, 5- 4 on sets.

Ryde Lawn also had another team involved in a close match, this one in Ladies weekend 2, with CourtX – who have been badly hit by cancellations this season – kick starting their season by squeezing past leaders Ryde 2nds, sharing the rubbers 2-2 and winning 5-4 on sets.

Chichester men’s first season in the top division has proved very successful to date. They continued their unbeaten run with a resounding 4-0 victory over Ventnor, leaving them just three points behind leaders and reigning champions Warsash, with the match between the two teams still to be played.

Warsash two didn’t fare quite as well as their top team, going down 3-1 to Avenue 2nds, that win keeping Avenue in the hunt for promotion from Division 2.

But runaway leaders CourtX 2nds will take some catching. They brushed aside previously unbeaten Chichester 2nds 4-0 to record a fifth successive win.

The two matches in Men’s 4 both finished with 4-0 scorelines, Alverstoke moving to the top of the table with their win against Southsea 2nds, while Fishbourne beat Lee 5ths.

Warsash continue to dominate Mixed 1, beating Lee 4-0 though their top pair, Ian Udal and Georgie Bartholomew, were taken to a match tie break in both their rubbers. Meanwhile, in Division 3, Alverstoke beat Abshott in a match which was somewhat closer than the 4-0 scoreline might suggest - three tie break wins going their way.

Midweek mixed Masters 1 looks like developing into one of the closest divisions of the winter season. Ryde Lawn drew level with leaders David Lloyd thanks to two tie break set wins for Jon Brown and Sarah Hill, setting up a 3-1 victory over Chichester, while Wellow and Lee both kept their hopes alive with 4-0 and 3-1 wins respectively against CourtX and Swanmore.

In Division 2, Avenue 2nds moved to the top of the table with a 4-0 win over Warsash 2nds.

Lee men’s masters team rounded off the week’s results with their sixth successive win – though Warsash 1 restricted them to just two points, having shared the rubbers 2-2 and the sets 5-5, going down by 33 games to 40.