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With the last two summer leagues not played due to the pandemic, Portsmouth League secretary Michael Isaacs was concerned that structures put in place for 2022 might produce one-sided matches, due to players moving on or new players having joined clubs.

He need not have worried, though this week’s batch of matches did throw up comfortable victories for a few teams, with 4-0 wins for Warsash men’s 1sts (v CourtX), Ventnor mixed (v Avenue 2nds), CourtX mixed (v Avenue 3rds) and the impressive youngsters at Active Academy (v Alverstoke mixed) in the weekend leagues.

There was also a 4-0 win for Swanmore (v Ryde Lawn 3rds) in the midweek mixed, but the other 12 matches were closely contested.

Closest of all was the contest between Ventnor and Fishbourne 2nds, in men’s Division 2.

Lee v Chichester men’s 1 (from left): Chris Muller, Josh Maitland, Tom Chattell, Dan Eldred, Stuart Marks, Jimmy Marks, Joe Glover, Adam Kamruddin

The sides could not be separated on rubbers, sets or even games countback, each team winning 36 games to record a rare tie.

The match between Lee 1sts and Chichester 1sts very nearly produced the same result. Here again, the rubbers and sets were shared, but Lee just edged the winning draw points thanks to the first set in the opening rubber, won 6-0 by Tom Chattell and Dan Eldred. That victory helped Lee to a three-game margin overall.

In Men’s Division 4, Warsash 3rds and CourtX 4ths played out a four-hour marathon, before the latter claimed the winning draw points by a 5 sets to 4 margin.

In the same division, league newcomers Abshott CC moved to the top of the table with a 3-1 victory over JEM Tennis.

The 16 players who appeared in the Warsash 1sts v CourtX 1sts and Warsash 3rds v CourtX 4ths matches. Back (from left): Keith Evans, Simon Troke, Ozzy Goligic, Bob Puncher, Rob Fairall, Matt Pond, Matt Savage, Chris Little, David Marsh. Front: Ryan Anders, Tim Clark, Bill Eales, Nigel Banton, Antonio Petrella, Tim Gale, Chan Sheng

Just three mixed matches were played at the weekend, but all finished with the rubbers shared.

Avenue 4ths and Ryde Mead could only be separated on games countback, the Havant-based team claiming the points by just two games.

Chichester’s 1st and 2nd mixed teams were both in action, the firsts losing out to Ryde Lawn 2nds when Suzanne and Martin Troy dropped a set in their winning rubber against Jon Brown and Suree Russell, giving Ryde a 5-4 sets advantage.

The 2nds did almost the exact opposite, Rory Cavanagh and Gill Lawson winning a set in their losing rubber against Wickham’s top pair for a 5-4 sets success on countback.

Just one ladies match saw Rowlands Castle extend their unbeaten record to three with a hard-fought 3-1 verdict against Wickham, Liz Marenghi and Lynda Pine scoring a double for Castle.

Wellow got their midweek mixed masters season back on track with a win against Chichester, though they had to play 11 sets to achieve it.

The pattern was set in the opening round, Graham Wallis and Simone Arnott needing a match tie break to get past Nigel Marks and Gill Horsey.

Both the next two rubbers went to match tie breaks, one going to each team and making the Wallis and Arnott win decisive in the overall result.

Ryde Lawn 2nds continued their unbeaten start with a 3-1 win over Lee.

Referring back to competitiveness, the mixed masters Division 2 is made up of nine teams - and currently SIX are sharing the lead with equal points!

Swanmore lead the way after their win over Ryde Lawn 3rds, while Fishbourne were helped on their way to victory over Warsash when one of the latter’s players dropped out injured at the last minute.

Avenue 2 had been beaten by Swanmore but came back into contention with a win over Rowlands Castle, who had previously beaten Ryde Lawn 3rds.

A close finish is almost guaranteed.

Ventnor and Fishbourne can’t be separated – rare tie in the Portsmouth Summer Tennis League