Portsmouth & District Tennis League: Lee and Warsash set for ladies' title decider

And remarkably it seems likely that as many as 12 different clubs will take at least on title.

One of the few divisions still to be decided is ladies’ division one, where Lee 1 and Warsash 1 will play a winner-takes-all match this weekend to decide the title and with it the right to represent Portsmouth in the Solent Cup match against Southampton on April 15.

Chichester take pride of place in the men’s divisions, their first team having clinched the division one title, while the second team fought out a tied match with Ryde Mead last Sunday, with the rubbers being exact mirror images, 6-3, 6-1 and 3-6, 1-6 in the first round and 6-7, 1-6 and 7-6, 6-1 in the reverse round!

And with their third team winning division three, they will now have three teams in the top two divisions next winter.

CourtX 1 ended their season with a comfortable 3-1 win over Ventnor, but both finished mid-table and will retain their places in the top division next year.

Men’s two is one of the few divisions still to be decided, CourtX 2 needing to win their final match against Lee 3 to secure the title and promotion to the top tier.

Avenue 2 beat Alverstoke 1 by three rubbers to one to guarantee third place in that division, while Seacourt and CourtX 4 shared the rubbers and the sets in their division three encounter, but Seacourt took the winning draw points by 31 games to 27 to give them the edge in the battle for the runners-up place.

Should Warsash 1 beat Lee 1 in the ladies’ one match referred to above, the five ladies’ titles will have been won by five different clubs.

CourtX 1 beat nearest rivals Ryde Lawn 2 to secure division two last weekend.

The opening rubbers were shared, with Ryde’s Andrea Waugh and Sue George just edging past Clare Keiditsch and Betty Corbett in a match tie-break. But CourtX ran away with the reverse rubbers to clinch the title.

Seacourt’s comprehensive win over Lee 2 gave them the division three title, while Fishbourne carried all before them, going through their division four season unbeaten.

However, should Lee 1 prevail in the top division, they can share the ladies’ divisional title-winning glory with club colleagues Lee 3, another team to go through the season undefeated.

The mixed division titles were also shared out between four different clubs.

Warsash won the top division – with no repeat of the remarkable ‘Groundhog Day’ result of last winter, when they tried two matches with Avenue in successive weeks!

Ventnor, spearheaded by mother/son combination Linda/Elliott Jones, who went through the season without even conceding a set, easily won the second division – and look likely to mount a challenge in the top division next winter.

And it is good to see the Southsea club back in the winner’s circle, having lost so many players to local rivals in recent seasons. Their mixed 1 team lost only two matches in division three to gain promotion for next winter.

And while the league table will show that Fishbourne’s mixed team didn’t match their ladies’ team’s unbeaten season, they did not actually lose any matches on court, their only defeat coming when they could not raise a team for the final match of the season, by which time the championship title had already been decided.

And hats off to all team captains in the midweek masters competition. Just one match remains to be played, with Ryde Lawn’s mixed masters 1 and 2 playing off for the championship title.

Warsash 1 took the division two title with ease, going through the season unbeaten, while Lee did the same in the men’s competition.

Avenue 1 thought they had blown their chances in midweek ladies’ division one when they lost their last match to Swanmore, leaving Chichester needing just to share the rubbers with relegation-threatened Wellow to claim the title.

But it was not to be! Wellow romped home by four rubbers to nil, allowing Avenue to claim the title! And with Lee winning the midweek ladies’ two title, the race to see which club wins the most winter league titles will be determined by the results of this weekend’s final matches.