Taunton National Premier League Doubles Team narrowly missed out on a place in the national finals this weekend after losing in the play offs to Bromley Tennis Centre in Kent. The one pair play offs for those that had qualified from their regional division took place at Virgin Active Warwickshire in Coventry on Sunday 26th February, with Taunton represented by James Deem and Craig Phillips.
Seeded 8th in of the 12 teams Taunton were drawn against one of the top 5 seeds in the qualification round having been given a bye through the preliminary rounds. Giving away several LTA ratings level to a duo that included Nick Cavaday (who reached a high in 2010 of 1022 Singles and 991 in Doubles in the ATP world rankings) the Taunton pair started slowly getting broken twice in quick succession to go 4-0 down. A break of the Cavaday serve, with some super returns from Phillips, give the pair a foothold in the match that was backed up by holds of serve from Deem and Phillips kept them in the set at 5-4 down.
The Kent pair, serving for the set, played a nervy couple of points going down 0-30 before hitting big serves to claw it back to 30-30. Another strong first serve gave them set points. Bizarrely the set was one on a first serve that hit Phillips directly on the foot before bouncing giving the Kent pair the point and the set 6-4.
Taunton started well in the second easily holding in the first game and narrowly missing a break opportunity in the 2nd game. Coasting to 40-0 up in the 3rd game the Taunton duo let the game slip to go down a break early. Taunton then fought back to go 40-0 up on the Cavaday serve but again let it slip to go 3-1 down. It was hard going from then on in and eventually lost the set 6-3.
Taunton had qualified well from the South West division with five wins and one loss, including victories against team from Bristol, Exeter, Swansea, Bath University and Swindon. The only loss they had, against Cardiff, ended their chances of a spot in the national finals without the need for the play offs.
For full regional results - click here