Cambs played Norfolk in the 1st round, and they got off to a slow start with Luigi Murton losing 0-6 0-6 before Jan Ortonowski lost 2-6 0-6 to Matt Cott and Owen Tudor. John Taylor kept Cambs hopes alive with a hard fought win over Owen Tudor 7-5 6-4 to keep Cambs hopes alive. Dom Lea playing at one, lost to Will Davies in a rain interrupted match 1-6 3-6. Going in to the doubles 3-1 down, Lea / Taylor put up a very spirited performance before losing 3-10 in the match tiebreak against Davies / McNaughton. Murton and Ortonowski lost in straight sets which meant Norfolk won 5-1.
Wiltshire were up next and at number 4, Lui Murton put up a good fight but went down 2-6 3-6 and John Taylor again won a very close match that had everything – great defense and great momentum but John came through 6-4 7-5 after being 2-5 down in the 2nd set. Jan Ortonowski couldn’t quite get the better of a closely fought 1st set and lost 4-6 2-6. Dom Lea beat Taylan Ozdemir 6-1 6-1. Going into the doubles at 2-2, knowing a 3-3 would mean a tense tiebreak shootout, Maki Zivotic and Lui Murton won a good doubles 6-2 6-2. Knowing a win for Lea and Taylor in the doubles would mean a 1st win for the weekend, they played some fantastic doubles with some exquisite net play and won the opening set 6-1. After having numerous match points from 5-2 up in the 2nd set, they eventually came out winners 7-5. It meant that Cambs would be playing Northants for 5th place.
Again, it was down to John Taylor to keep the hopes alive as he won his match 6-3 6-1 against Sam Smith after Maki Zivotic lost by the same score. Jan Ortonowski played some of his best tennis of the weekend but it wasn’t enough as he lost to Cameron Yuill 3-6 2-6 before some breathtaking baseline play from Dom Lea in his match against Joe Tyler. It wasn’t quite enough and Tyler’s experience came through as he won 7-5 6-1 to mean Northants led by 3 rubbers to 1 with the doubles to play. Lui Murton and Jan Ortonowski looked like they could get off to a good start but faded as the match wore on and came out 5-7 1-6 before Taylor and Lea lost in a match tiebreak 2-10.
Captain Chris Johnson said “It was always going to be a tough weekend, we had a young team and there were some very good teams here. All the boys fought very well, but it just wasn’t enough”.