Warsash claim winning draw points in high quality Portsmouth & District Tennis League game at Denmead

Denmead v Warsash. From left - James Sillence, Matt Prosser, Aaron Blackman, Sam Li, Ian Udal, James Craven, Greg Harrold, Matt Pond.

Match of the day was a cracking encounter at Denmead where the home team hosted Warsash 1sts, writes ALAN BEST.

The hosts’ top pair, Aaron Blackman and James Sillence, won both their rubbers including a high quality success against Ian Udal and Matt Pond.

Blackman and Sillence edged a tie break in the first set before taking the second 7-5. However, Udal and Pond won their second rubber in straight sets, leaving the overall result to be decided between the second pairs.

Lee men (v Avenue). From left - Tom Chattell, Dan Eldred, Oli Brind, Chris Cunningham

A close encounter was expected, but Warsash’s Sam Li and Greg Howard defeated James Craven and Matt Prosser 6-1 6-2 to take the winning draw points by 42 games to 34.

Avenue 1sts forced the first three rubbers of their top flight match against Lee 1sts to match tie breaks. But they lost all three and Lee completed a whitewash success with a 6-1 6-1 final rubber win.

Canoe Lake 2nds consolidated their position at the top of Men’s division 2 when they overcame a shaky start to beat Chichester 3-1.

The Sussex team started brightly, Siva Pillai and Rick Hellaby beating Lake’s second string in straight sets and Hugo Frey and Ben Hubbard taking a set off Ryan Anders and Rob Fairall before losing the match tie break.

With a narrow sets lead at the start of the reverse rubbers, Chichester thought they had a good chance of a win - but both Lake pairs raced away to victories.

New members Carl Pendle and James Crossan impressed as Fishbourne defeated Warsash 3rds in Men’s division 3 3-1.

Playing as their club’s top pair, they dropped just two games in winning their four sets.

Dick Nicholson and Jerry Savage backed them up, beating father and son duo Mike and Jake Betteridge.

The top of the table clash between Avenue 3rds and Alverstoke 2nds was an unsurprisingly close affair.

The opening rubbers were shared, with games also level at 20-20.

Alverstoke’s Andrew Mills and Chris Titterington then defeated Avenue’s top pair, Brian Wiggins and David Spink, in straight sets.

That left the final game between Avenue pair John Huddlestone and Dennis Greenwood and the visitors’ Adrian Allsop and Tony Norish.

Huddlestone and Greenwood edged the rubber, but Allsop and Norish claimed 11 games to give their team the winning draw points by 43-38 on games.

In the midweek leagues, Warsash ladies lost at Avenue 2nds.Sarah Long and Denise Simper won both their rubbers for the hosts and Mary Robinson and Linda Wainwright backed them up with a win against Warsash’s top pair.

David Lloyd West End continued their good run in Mixed 1 with a 4-0 win over Warsash while in the second tier Fishbourne moved into top spot after defeating Southsea 3-1.

Warsash men’s masters team travelled to play on Avenue’s grass courts and inflicted a rare home defeat on their hosts.

Avenue’s Adrian Drummond and Rob Mort won both their rubbers, but they conceded a set in the win over Trevor Spence and Seamus Cruise. And with both the Warsash pairs beating Avenue’s second string, the rubbers were shared 2-2 - with Warsash winning 5-4 on sets.