The over 75 men's team maintained their form for their home match, played on familiar territory at the Virgin Active Devonshire against Hampshire & IOW. Support from the over 70 team and longtime Devon stalwart David Gould was an added bonus.
In the opening round Doug Cook and David Evans started with a bang against the Hants & IOW first pair racing through the set 6-2. The second set saw all four players struggling on serve with errors on both sides but a single hold gave Hants & IOW the set 6-4. Normally strong tie-break players, the Devon pair could not hold on to this one and it went to Hants & IOW 10-6. Devon's second pair, Johnny Weymouth and Les Harries (returning after long-term injury) had a hard fought rubber agains the Hants & IOW second pair but came through 6-4, 7-6.
Johnny and Les continued their form in the second round pushing the Hants & IOW number 1 pair but eventually went down 3-6, 5-7. Doug and David fortunately found their stride again, barely missing a ball to take the first set 6-0 and a 6-2 second set saw them enjoying a decisive win.
With rubbers even, Devon achieved a narrow win on countback but this should be enough to ensure they remain in Division 1 next season.
The over 70 men's team travelled to Letchworth to play Hertfordshire. With some of its regular players unavailable, the team was bolstered by over 75 team member Doug Cook who teamed with Ray Hinton to form Devon's first pair. Herts first pair were very strong, winning in straight sets. Roger Vernon and Ken Jones, our second pair, suffered a similar fate and the reverse matches continued in similar vein giving Herts a 4-0 win.
Away again to Dorset, the team had the disadvantage of threatened bad weather bringing the start time forward leaving them with no time to prepare on unfamiliar court surfaces. Derek Sheppard (over 75) stepped in this time to partner Ray Hinton with Ken Jones and Roger Vernon as second pair. Both lost their first set but whilst Ray and Derek won their next set and the tie break, Roger and Ken could only manage three games in their final set.
Dorset brought in new blood for the ‘first pair’ in the second round and was successful against Roger and Ken, winning 6-4, 6-3. In Ray and Derek’s final match Dorset’s second pair was just too steady, winning 6-3, 6-1. So, a 3-1 loss for Devon.
The over 45 men's team have played both Essex and Hampshire & IOW at home at the Virgin Active Devonshire this month. Over 70s captain Ken Jones was a spectator at both matches and said, "I had the good fortune to be a supporter for both of the above matches. Devon was successful on both days; what a privilege it was to observe these matches. Devon’s team members Daniel Ahl and Linden Hardisty won all four of their singles and both their doubles matches, Craig Arbuckle and Justin Kraushar (capt) were on the cusp of winning one of their doubles matches when Justin sustained an injury and had to withdraw. Having recently had Linden advising us on how to play the game of tennis it really reinforced his message to see him performing and implementing his own advice to achieve the desired outcome."
The over 65 men's team have had 3 successful home fixtures giving them the lead in Division 2B. Last week they took on South Wales at Neath. Tony Counter, defending an unbeaten run, was taken to a third set tie-break but won to keep his record going. Stewart Barnes was also unbeaten but unfortunately met his match in Wales, losing 2-6, 3-6.
Doubles pair Bernard Mowle and Phil Bastin took a little while to get going, lost the first set 2-6, rallied to win a tight second set but couldn't hold on in the tie-break third set which went to Wales. In their doubles, Tony and Stewart struggled to find their form initially going 2-5 down but won the next 5 games on the trot to take the set 7-5. The second set was tight but good serving and agressive net play kept the pressure on and a blistering serve from Tony sealed the rubber.
So, the unbeaten run was broken as the match was lost 2-3. The final match is against Oxford, also unbeaten so far. A victory would see the Devon team achieve promotion again at the first attempt after being relegated from Division 1 at the end of last season.
The ladies' over 70 team travelled to East Grinstead to take on Sussex with some concern as rain was forecast and the match was outdoors. It could be a long journey for nothing! Luckily despite a pretty damp start to the day, the rain held off long enough for the match to take place. However, the astro courts were very wet and the balls soon picked up the moisture so that you had a shower everytime you hit a ball!
Devon first pair, Sue Doncaster and Sue Williams won both their matches in a championship tie-break. Second pair Margaret Hammett and Dylys Bradshaw lost to the Sussex second pair but played brilliantly against the first pair and amost snatched the win only to lose 8-10 in (yet another!) championship tie-break. The match was thus drawn at 2 rubbers each but Sussex were the victors on countback by 1 set. If only that tie-break had gone the other way!