Latest results from Penarth Windsor Tennis Club (From Penarth Times)

Latest results from Penarth Windsor Tennis Club

7:30am Thursday 31st January 2013 in Sport

PENARTH may have survived the recent onslaught of wintry conditions, but some of the Cymru Kitchens fixtures involving Windsor Tennis Club weren’t so lucky.

Penarth Windsor’s ladies’ second team did not make their planned trip to Llandeilo and the men’s firsts didn’t play host to Virgin Active. The latter was actually due to a late forfeit and, although the points will be welcome, captain Dan James and his team were disappointed that pre-match preparations went to waste.

So it was that the only two fixtures completed saw the men’s second and third teams square off against the Allt-yr-yn firsts and seconds respectively. Guy Bradley’s seconds had already triumphed 3-1 in an earlier away fixture against the Newport club and, with Windsor only one place above Allt-yr-yn in the league, they couldn’t afford to give ground.

Guy and partner Tim Dawes resisted a fight back from the first pair to win 6-2, 7-5, while Elliot Richards and Tom Bellingham were edged out 3-6, 6-3, 0-1 in a third-set tie break.

Two rain breaks meant the match had to be finished under floodlights although Tim and Guy didn’t need too long with a comfortable 6-0, 6-0 win. Emotions ran high in the final rubber, but it was the Allt-yr-yn first pair who held their nerve to clinch a 6-3,6-4 win and secure a draw which keeps Windsor third in Division 4.

After losing the close return fixture two weeks ago, the men's third team were hoping to make amends in Newport. In grey, windy conditions, Windsor first pair Colin Jones and Murray Shepherd won a good first match 6-2 6-3, with the latter's volleys gliding impressively off his racket. After winning their first set 6-1, Windsor second pair Phil Davies and Rick Turner found the Allt-yr-yn first pair fighting back, with the home duo taking the second set 6-3 and going 9-6 ahead in the deciding tie-break.

At this point, Phil and Rick utilised their years of tennis experience, dug in, and came back to take the tie break and an impressive win, and put Windsor 2-0 up at the changeover.

Colin and Murray then suffered the backlash from the Allt-yr-yn first pair, who played well from the start and grew quickly in confidence, never letting the Windsor pair get into the match.

Over on the other court, Phil and Rick had also lost their first set. However, knowing that overall victory depended on them, Phil and Rick again raised their game to take the second set 6-1, utilising their full range of shots.

Everything depended on the deciding tie break, with Allt-yr-yn taking an early 4-1 lead, but, with Phil and Rick fighting for every remaining point, they went on to win a thoroughly deserved match to save the day for Windsor and earn the visitors an overall 3-1 victory.