WELLOW Tennis Club held a very successful club tournament last weekend with 28 members participating in a competition where prizes were donated by the Royal Jaipur restaurant in Landford. 

The three and a half hour tournament took place in perfect summer sun with food brought by the players, background music and competitive, fast moving tennis supplemented by some English sparkling wine donated by longstanding club member Roger Marchbank. 

The tournament started with six quick fire round robin matches each limited to twenty five minutes. Then the four top scoring ladies and men were paired up in the semi-finals which were 10 point match tiebreaks. The finalists to emerge were Clare Skinner and Mark Patience who then played and comfortably beat Simone Arnott and Graham Wallis. Gordon Taylor and Cathy Tarvin won the third place match beating Derek Bennett and Sarah Shaw. There was also a prize for the shot of the day which was won by Steve Lynes. It proved to be a great afternoon and a real advert for the benefits of club tennis – both in terms of healthy exercise and socialising. It was organised and run very efficiently by club members Graham Wallis and Paul Feeney. 

On the league front Wellow’s summer tennis has brought mixed fortunes. In the Sarum league the A team finished second in Division 1 winning 5 of their 8 matches. The B team had an excellent season narrowly winning Division 2 with a better winning sets percentage than close rivals Alderbury -and despite losing 3-5 to Alderbury in their last match. Team captain Sandra Peckham led by example topping the divisional player statistics with eleven wins from fourteen rubbers. Sadly the C team finished last in Division 2 with just one win and the D team in Division 3 fared even worse losing all eight matches.

In the Portsmouth & District Masters league Wellow’s mixed team sit top of the Division 1 table knowing that a win in their final match at home to Avenue will guarantee them the title. In their penultimate match the team of Laura Dodington, Simone Arnott, Mike Bevan and John Moret scored an excellent 4-0 win against Chichester which included two 10-point third set tie-break victories for Wellow pairs. In the ladies Division 2 Wellow lie third level on points with leaders Swanmore and with three matches still to play promotion is definitely on the cards. The mens team lie sixth out of nine teams but have games in hand and could still finish near the top of the table.
Wellow’s two mens senior A teams in the Hants and IoW leagues have found life in the top divisions tough. Their Over 45s team have still to win a match and their Over 55s team have just one win to date although they came close to beating second placed Riverside losing by the narrowest of margins 33-34 on games. The mens Over 45s B team lie second in Division 4 and a win in their final match should ensure promotion. The Mens Over 55s B team achieved their first win of the season in their penultimate match narrowly beating Alverstoke 5-4 on sets. 

In the main Hants & IoW leagues Wellow’s mens A team lie fourth in Division 3 with four points with four matches still remaining. In their most recent match they lost 0-4 to league leaders Avondale which included two 10-point tie-break third set losses. The mens B team in Division 4A have lost all four matches so far. Wellow’s ladies lie fifth in Division 2 with just one victory to date. They were very unfortunate to lose 1-3 to Kingsgate winning just one of three third set 10-point tie-breaks.

Wellow’s Apsley league team in Division 2 lie fourth with five points from the four matches played. The league is very closely contested and Wellow have matches in hand. They gained a commendable draw with league leaders Thornden B 4-4 and Wellow could still end up in a promotion place depending on the outcome of their remaining four matches.