WRITHLINGTON 1sts 2 SODBURY 2nds 8

Five matches, two results! A rain-soaked weekend caused havoc with the fixture list on the first day of the Late Summer season.

Whilst the Men’s Seniors managed to finish their close match, the Mixed Firsts had an epic game, and both pairings still have a whole set to play this week, with the match evenly balanced. The Ladies’ Seniors managed to play on Sunday at Knowle, but the rain was hammering down in Bath for the Mixed Seconds match.

Sodbury were relegated from Division One last season, and we were promoted from Divison Three – the above result does not reflect the closeness of the match!

Chris Cox and Richard Chapman teamed up to play Mark and David, and there were just two tiebreaks between them – incredibly unlucky to lose 7-6, 7-6, and I’m sure if Chris’s back had not been giving him gip, they would have won.

Andy Jeffery and Ray Clarke took on Steve and Paul, and it all came down to a second set tiebreak. Andy and Ray blew a 5-2 lead to lose it 7-5, and hence the rubber 6-4, 7-6. Again, very unlucky.

At half-time, despite being 4-0 down, we still felt we could win the match!

Andy and Ray let Mark and David coast to a 3-0 lead, before finally getting their act together to win six on the trot! The second set went in a blur of changing tactics, which worked for Sodbury (who won 6-3), and Andy and Ray made many errors in the final set to hand them a 6-1 win.

Chris and Richard managed a well-deserved, fine 6-2, 7-5 win against Steve and Paul, but it was very tough – they were 4-0 down in the second set! They finished at the same time as Andy and Ray finished their three-setter!

So somehow Sodbury managed to win all three tight rubbers to take the match 8-2, but it could easily have been a 10-0 win for us! A 100% fit Chris might have changed everything, but that’s tennis.

The seconds match at Clevedon was postponed due to weather concerns – and it was justified, because it was raining and blowing a gale most of the evening!