MAY has arrived, which means the start of the tennis season and another year of thrills and (mostly) spills at the Penarth Lawn Tennis Club.

The men’s 1st team, short of players and having lost their battle to stay in the Premier leagues last year, began their campaign with a home match against Penarth Windsor’s 2nd team.

Just two years ago, the teams were four divisions apart, indeed the Rectory Road club’s 2nd team was a division above their Windsor counterparts. But consecutive promotions for Windsor 2nds and two straight relegations for Penarth 1sts, have seen the teams converge in Division 1 East.

Windsor fielded a strong team at Rectory Road, with Tom Bellingham and Tom Cole looking in good shape and lining up as the first pair. After a tense opening, they made short work of Penarth first pair Gavin Seymour and Martin Radford, winning 6-4 6-0. But unlike the visitors, who’d loaded their strongest players into their first pair, Penarth had decided to field three relatively even pairs, and it paid dividends as they took a 2-1 lead at the halfway point.

With the second pair of Rob Cunningham and Spencer Robinson seeing off Windsor's third pair Dyfri Owen and Matt Colmsee 6-2 6-1, while third pair Tom Pegg and Ed Stradling edged out Windsor’s second pair of Guy Bradley and Dan Pitt 6-2 5-7, and 10-7 on the match tie-break.

The second round of matches saw the finest tennis of the evening as Cole and Bellingham traded sets, 6-4 and 2-6 with Cunningham and Robinson, before the Windsor pair ran out 10-0 winners of the match tie-break. But Pegg/Stradling defeated Owen/Colmsee 6-0 6-4, and Seymour/Radford won a close match 6-3 7-6 over Bradley/Pitt to secure a 4-2 win for the home team; a good start to a season which Penarth hope will see them promoted back to the Premier divisions.

The ladies’ 1st team started with a nail-biting 3-3 result at home to Whitchurch in Premier League II. After many years of 3-3 tied matches being decided on sets and games countback, the South Wales league had taken the sensible decision in 2011 to call such matches draws and share the points.

For some reason that decision has been reversed this season; there are no draws. On this occasion the Penarth ladies were grateful, winning the match by a single game after a 3-3 scoreline.

Without Alex Robinson and Briohny Gelling this year, the Penarth ladies fared less well in their second match at Swansea, losing 1-5, to leave them in fourth place after two matches. The team for both matches was Nicola Williams and Alys Randall, Kylie Skinner and Caroline Hazell, Olivia Muse and Deb Gale.

The ladies’ 2nd team enjoyed a great start to their season in Division 4 East, with a 4-2 away win at Lisvane. Anne Hamilton and Nicola Donovan won both rubbers, as did Jane Humpage and Vanessa Parselle. Mally Hann and Beth Randall made up the team.

Expected to struggle this season in Division 2 East, the men’s 2nd team started with a very important 4-2 win over David Lloyd III. The home first pair of Martin Radford and Ben Coates were beaten in straight sets by the visiting first pair but won out on a match tie-break against the second pair.

Penarth old school second pair of Ed Stradling and John Abrams won comfortably against the visiting third pair but lost out in a three tie-break epic to the first pair, who came through 6-7 7-6 and then 10-8 in the match tie-break.

But the home team’s secret weapon were the third pair of Dave Seeley and Giles Gray, who swept aside the David Lloyd second pair before winning a tough third set tie-break against the third pair to seal the 4-2 win.

The Men’s 3rd team lost to a strong Cwmbran side in Division 5 East, with Geoff Morgan and Paul Robinson nicking one creditable rubber in a 5-1 defeat, while the ladies’ 4th team lost their first match of the season in Division 7, on sets countback against Radyr V after another 3-3 scoreline.

There will be further reports as the season wears on.