A masters defeat but good senior wins for Wellow Tennis Club

A lovely crossing on the ferry surveying the tall ships in full sail may have distracted Wellow as in the opening matches both mixed pairs lost 1-6, 2-6 to very strong opponents with captain Mike Bevan and Laura Dodington putting up a particularly good fight against some powerful opposition. Second pair, Graham Wallis and Simone Arnott were outclassed. Bevan and Wallis then went down 1-6, 2-6 in the men’s doubles but Wellow’s – ladies, Dodington & Arnott were extremely pleased to pull off a win 7-5, 6-1 - after a closely fought first set unexpectedly Ryde ladies succumbed easily in the 2nd set. Despite the defeat Wellow are still in a strong position in the top division

Wellow’s senior mens teams continued their fine form with two wins for their Over 45s A Team and one for their Over 55s A team. In what could turn out to be a crucial victory the Over 45s A team secured a fine win against previously unbeaten Winchester B by the closest of margins. In a match where two championship tiebreaks were shared with first pair Gordon Taylor and Kevin Stansfield winning theirs whilst second pair John Turner and Symon Blowers narrowly lost theirs it all came down to games with rubbers and sets shared equally. Fortunately Wellow just had the edge on games winning by 37 games to 32.

The team then travelled to David Lloyd at West End with Symon Blowers pairing up with Gordon Taylor as first pair and winning both their rubbers for the loss of just nine games. Second pair John Turner and Mark Patience sealed the victory which leaves the team handily placed second in Division 2 with two matches remaining.

Wellow’s Over 55s A team continued their fine run of form with a convincing win over Alverstoke by 3 rubbers to 1. First pair Kevin Stansfield and Paul Goodman were on fire in their first rubber defeating their opposite numbers for the loss of just one game. Not to be outdone second pair Mike Bevan and Graham Wallis also won their first round 6-1, 6-0 leaving Wellow in an almost impregnable position at the half way stage. Stansfield and Goodman then rounded off an exceptional evening’s tennis with another victory 6-1, 6-0 to secure the match. In the only close rubber of the evening Bevan and Wallis just lost out 4-6, 5-7 to the Alverstoke first pair but the victory was secured and again Wellow lie second in Division 2 with three matches still to play.  

Unfortunately the Over 45s and Over 45s B teams could not replicate the success with an inexperienced Over 45s team of Paul Feeney, Luciano Filippi, Clive Morgan and Andy MacDonald losing heavily to a very strong Court X team gaining just 5 games over the 4 rubbers. Wellow’s Over 55s B team’s miserable season continued with the team of John Saunsbury, Dave Pinch, Mike Cross and Paul Feeney suffering another heavy defeat by 4 rubbers to 0 at the hands of a very good Warsash team.