All of Writhlington Tennis Club’s Men’s teams proved that home advantage really does count, with good wins for our Firsts and Fourths at home, and the Seconds and Thirds struggling on their visits to top-of-the-table opposition. The Firsts won 10–0, Seconds lost 10–0, Thirds lost 8–2, Fourths won 8–2 with no match for the Fifth team.

Teenagers, Alex Day and Matt Alexander, starring in our First team, had a real boost with two excellent wins this week against Bath, following last week’s narrow loss to a Cleeve Hill pairing.

Also spare a thought for ex-teacher, Pete Goldsmith, who went over on his ankle during the Fourths’ second rubber against Kings, and valiantly tried to carry on, only to go over on it a second time. This forced him (with partner, Mark Finch) to retire and concede, just when they were on the cusp of their second victory that night!

For the Ladies, Mandy Baldwin and Francesca Beg did not drop a single game on the new Lansdown clay courts, and the other Firsts’ pairing of Catherine Brand and Sarah Dawe battled back from 3–6, 1–4 down to win their rubber 3–6 6–4 6–4 – amazing comeback!

Writhlington Firsts 10 Bath Seconds 0

Having narrowly beaten Bath Seconds 6–4 earlier in the season, this was a must-win match heading into the second half of the season. Hamish O’Mahony, Alex Day, Matt Alexander and Patrick Lodge turned out for the second week in a row.

Hamish and Pat teamed up to play Brandon and Andy. The Writhlington pair didn’t miss much and Andy appeared hampered with his movement. 6–1, 6–1 to Writhlington.

Alex and Matt were facing off against Richard and Alex and breezed through the first set with some excellent serving. A tight second set with long games finished in a tiebreak win for Writhlington. Alex and Matt picked up where they left off, playing well and finishing at the net, a 6–0, 6–0 win over Andy and Brandon.

Hamish and Pat seemed to have lengthy games throughout a 6–4, 6–3 win over Rich and Alex, the scoreline perhaps not reflecting the great net play from the Bath pair, in particular, Richard! As ever, it was a well-natured and enjoyable evening of tennis, topped off by, for the first time this season, our opposition joining us at the pub! Next week at Lansdown, BA1 5TN.

DL Westbury Seconds 10 Writhlington Seconds 0

We arrived at Westbury before the opposition, and this gave us a chance to warm-up and get used to the brand new carpet surface and smaller run-out areas. But it didn’t do us much good! Richard Chapman and Andy Jeffery were up against ‘B pair’ (yeah, right!) Charles and Neil. Charles was a First team player if ever I saw one, and they proceeded to annihilate us 6–1, 6–2. Shell-shocked would not fully describe our feelings.

Against the ‘A pair’ Chris and Russ, we were doing nicely and going with serve at 5–4 down, then Andy had a nightmare of a service game. We were then a break up and 40–15 up in the second set, but we lost that game and the next three for a 6–4, 6–3 loss. “Could do better” was the school report.

“Could do better” rather sums up the evening for the A pair of James Brocksopp and Graham Steer, too. Early discussion focussed on the importance of making first serves on a newly refurbished and quick carpet surface. No surprise then that between us we went on to miss more first serves than we hit.

Against Chris and Russ, we faced a barrage of pinpoint and quick serves and rarely had a chance on their games whilst struggling to hold our own. Rallies of anything more than three shots were a rarity. 6–3, 6–2 loss. It was more of the same against Neil and Charles and the first set was done in the blink of an eye. A mini revival and a break of Charlie’s serve brought us to 3–3 and a hint of a chance. This, however, was ruthlessly crushed. 6–1, 6–3 the final score.

A disappointing result, but not unexpected, given David Lloyd are top of the table and with obvious home court advantage. I doubt anyone thought we had a chance of promotion this year, but with four games left, surviving relegation is definitely within our own hands. Next week home to Kings Seconds (out).

Bath Thirds 8 Writhlington Thirds 2

Our match against Bath was considered to be one of our toughest fixtures and so it proved to be. Darren Thompson and Chris Cox went up against their B pairing and although we managed to take it to three sets, we were unable to finish them off, going down 7–5 in the third. Tom Hunt and Sam Thomson, continuing their partnership from last week, took on the A team and fought hard to put up a great effort, only to lose in the third set.

By now, Darren and Chris were feeling a little worse for wear, but that played right into the A pairing’s hands, who managed to wipe the floor with them 6–0, 6–0. We were thankful that Sam and Tom saved the day with a win in their second match to grab a very valuable two points. The opposition were a very pleasant bunch and, apart from the result, a very enjoyable evening. Next week home to Lansdown Fourths (in).

Writhlington Fourths 8 Kings Thirds 2

After a lengthy delay due to traffic, the complete team from Kings finally arrived and play started at 7.40 p.m. Writhlington used the pre-match warm-up time to good effect, as a result both pairings managing to win their first round rubbers relatively comfortably. Bryn Jones and Ray Clark winning their first rubber 6–2, 6–3 and Peter Goldsmith and Mark Finch winning theirs 6–4, 6–4. With the light fading, the second round was initiated quickly. Not much of a team talk required other than calls for more of the same.

Both the Kings pairings were starting to play some good tennis and were now more settled after their fraught and embarrassingly late journey. However, Bryn and Ray took the first set 6–4, and Pete and Mark took theirs 6–2. All was on track for a possible 10–0 victory up until the slippy conditions on outside court number one took its toll with Pete Goldsmith rolling his ankle. Pete manfully played on but at 6–5 in the second set, his ankle went again. Pete had to retire injured after a valiant effort and forfeit the rubber.

Bryn and Ray reached 3–3 in their second set when play was switched indoors. After a nervy few games and both teams becoming tired, Bryn managed to hold his serve after numerous break points against and then Writhlington managed to break their serve after another ten deuce game. Kings’ heads then dropped and Ray served out the rubber to win 6–3, 6–4. Overall result was an 8–2 win for Writhlington. Next week at Cotham Park Thirds BS9 2BJ.