The Channel Islands’ Ladies Over 35 tennis team have just returned from Eastbourne where they have been competing in Group 5 of the Vets Tennis GB event. Last year they gained promotion on the grass by winning Group 6, and this year’s team of Karen Barnes, Shelagh Herbert (both Jersey) , Claire Randell and Jo Robinson (both Guernsey), were ready for the challenges of East of Scotland, West of Scotland and Oxfordshire.
The East of Scotland were our first opponents on day 1, Claire on court first as 2nd singles. On this occasion Fiona Maclean proved too consistent over the length of the match, winning 7-5, 6-1 despite Randell’s best efforts in closing down her space. Jo Robinson overwhelmed Abbe Brown at 1 with a loss of only 2 games with a very convincing performance, to level the match at 1-1 before the first round of doubles. Karen and Shelagh stepped up to the mark with another convincing win for the CI, displaying good tactics and positioning. Jo and Claire demolished the same opponents 6-0, 6-0 putting the CI into a winning position before the last rubber of the day. It was left to Barnes and Herbert to complete the run of victories with an increasingly confident performance at the net, despite losing the first set. A great start to the weekend, 4-1 victory.
Day 2 saw the team facing the West of Scotland, though wet weather forced a reduced format of play on the grass, the match being decided from only 3 rubbers. Under difficult and mixed conditions, Claire was first up again and faced a consistent opponent in Ruth Adam whose strong backhand sliced return often opened up Claire’s court. Claire’s serving remained strong , she took a 5-2 lead before the Scottish girl found her groove, levelling play before another rain delay forced all off court. Claire lost a close tie break after play resumed, and despite the second set being game for game, went down 4-6 in the second. Jo’s performance at no 1 singles proved perfunctory, a decisive victory over Carolyn Morgan 6-1, 6-0 with a largely error free display and attacking net play forcing her opponent in to making mistakes. The decisive rubber fell to Shelagh and Karen, whose opponents got off to a strong start to take the first set 6-1, giving little away in the process. Despite settling in to the 2nd set early on with good net play and excellent retrieving, the Scottish pairing of Sharon Mitchell & Lorna Browne found their way back in to take the match with the second set 7-5. A tight day’s play, the CI losing the fixture 2-1.
Oxfordshire were the remaining team to face on Sunday, with all to play for as final positions across the group were hinging on the results of 3 of the 4 counties. Claire, as always, started play for the CI with her singles against Ox Capt Liz Bamber, an experienced veteran of this event. A narrow loss in the first set 4-6 did little to deter a fantastic comeback from Claire to take the second 7-5, forcing the rubber in to a championship tie break. With the crowd behind her, Claire clinched it 10-4, which was just the start we needed. Jo was next up facing ex pro Claire Taylor, whose ranking of 3.2 suggested on paper she would be a challenging opponent. Her class was evident at times on tight points, though Jo matched her along the way coming back in the second set to force a tie-break which eluded her 10-5. The standard of play in this match was largely extremely high, unfortunately Taylor did little to endear herself to the masses with a display of poor sportsmanship & general malaise which Jo handled well.
Entering the doubles at 1-1, Karen and Shelagh were facing the 2nd pair first and immediately settled in to the match with excellent positioning, taking control to take the first set 7-6. Their opponents put up a strong counter attack to level the sets, forcing another championship tie break to decide the rubber. The CI pair were edged out 11-13 in a nail biting display of tactics and retrieving from both sides, and were incredibly unlucky not to finish on top. Claire and Jo ousted the same pair in 2 straight sets but needed to remain focussed, 7-6, 6-4. The decisive rubber fell to Karen and Shelagh facing the 1st pairing of Taylor and Hargreaves, who despite maintaining their excellent court craft and competitiveness lost 3-6, 4-6 in a hard fought encounter.
A fantastic display from a strong team of players saw the Channel Islands finish the event remaining in Group 5. Besides excellent tennis and a strong desire to win, the team spirit in the camp has almost reached legendary status and as non playing captain I can say it was once again a pleasure to travel with a bunch of players who are a real credit to their County.