Smith and Souness edge it on tie-breaks

IN what was probably the most exciting and nail-biting match of the week, Mike Smith and Nick Souness played the new pairing of Chris Janes and Andrew Leigh.

- DAVE AND SUE GALE

With all three sets going to tiebreaks, this was a very close game which could have gone either way. Smith and Souness recovering from four match points in the second set was probably the pivotal point of the match as they won 6-5, 6-5, 5-6.

Ben Knight and Tom Pantling played Bob Verey and Andy Weymouth in very blustery conditions but coped with the wind better to win 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.

Even a torrent of rain at the start of the match could not dampen the spirits of Alex Cox and sub Dan Chadder and Alan Mayes and Jose Rojas.

Rojas powered down some hard serves backed up by Mayes’ canny net play made for a close first set with it finely balanced at 3-3 before Alex and Dan pulled away to take the set.

More of the same in the second set with Alex and Dan being slightly more clinical with the finishing shots after some great back-of-the-court rallies. Dan’s serving was particularly good in the third set considering he had not played for a few months and Alex and Dan won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

In Men’s B, Steve Matcham and Dave Gale played Sean Wolstenholme and Simon Dixon in very windy conditions. With the ball going all over the place it was hard to play quality tennis but Steve and Dave did enough to win 6-5, 6-3, 6-5.

Arash Dinari and Lawrence Hay continued their good start to the winter league and were pleased to obtain maximum points against opponents James Driscoll and Mark Skerton (who were playing their first match of the campaign).