Writhlington’s Senior players bagged the wins this week, but the overall points count was even, with both Mixed teams being challenged against excellent opposition.

Bryn Jones and Chris Palmer stepped in at late notice to join Chris Cox and Andy Jeffery in the jaunt to Sodbury, but Bryn was suffering from a mysterious groin pain, yet still able to get around the court. We lost 8-2 at home to Sodbury, so were expecting a tough match, but against Maciek and Chris, Bryn and Chris played a blinder, and were unfortunate to lose 6-2, 6-3. The games they won were crucial to the match result.

Never let Chris Cox drive to a match! In August, Chris drove to DL Westbury and he had a nightmare for 1½ sets. Andy drove this time, and Chris was sublime throughout, with his serves and crosscourts beating opponents Steve and Paul into submission for a 6-1, 6-0 win.

At half-time, we were waited on hand, foot and finger by Paul’s wife, with organic milk and Waitrose biscuits, and all Andy could do in thanks was to sit on (and break) their trophy table!

After half-time, the watching crowd had swelled to around ten, and there was frequent chanting and barracking in favour of Sodbury. However, Andy and Chris C. stuck to their task, and managed a 6-1, 6-3 win, with Chris turning on the style and finesse.

Bryn and Chris P had a tougher time against Steve and Paul, and suffered a 6-1, 6-2 loss. However, their efforts in the first rubber were rewarded when we discovered that we had won the match overall by just three games.

Sodbury were excellent hosts, and we stayed for three rounds of drinks and loads of banter, mainly at Andy’s expense about the broken table. An excellent evening of fun, with the right result!

Andy Jeffery

A quartet of Callum Silkstone, Kelly Lycett, Abi Blanche-Martin and James Brocksopp turned out on Sunday morning to face a strong Bath team.

The Writhlington pairing of Callum and Kelly faced a more-than-capable Bath lawn pairing in the first rubber. After some long, enduring rallies and solid net play from the Writhlington duo, Callum and Kelly raced to the end of the first set, winning it 6-3.

The Bath Lawn pair proposed a bigger challenge in the second set, as errors crept into the home team’s game. However, after a lengthy dispute over what the score was, Callum and Kelly battled to win the second set 7-5, after some clinical vollies from Kelly, and precise drop-shots from Callum. The final result being 6-3, 7-5 to Writhlington.

In the second rubber, the Writhlington pair were flying with confidence, annihilating the Bath lawn pairing in the first set 6-0, thanks to flashy winners from Writhlington, with plenty of inch-perfect lobs going Callum and Kelly’s way, infuriating the Bath pair.

A transformed, unrecognisable Bath pairing came out for the second set, and despite some memorable winners from Writhlington, managed through perseverance to fight their way back into the match, forcing a second-set tie-break. This was not enough to break down Callum and Kelly, who did not miss a ball in the tie-break, winning the second set impressively, 7-6. The final result was 6-0, 7-6 to Writhlington.

Callum Silkstone