Wellow Tennis Club’s finals weekend went ahead as planned in spite of the unseasonal weather and those hardy members who ventured out as spectators were treated to five exceptional finals all of which were closely contested in a very sportsmanlike fashion.

The first final on Saturday saw two stalwarts of the Club Stuart Martin and Ben Wallis, who both started as junior members some years ago, compete for over two hours in a match of really high quality. Martin made the faster stand hung on to win the first set on a tie-break 7-6. Wallis just managed to turn the tables in the second set to win 6-4 and then followed an oscillating final set which given how closely the two players were matched inevitably led to another tie-break in which Wallis just came out on top 7-6.

The mixed doubles final that followed had a similar pattern with Kevin Stansfield and Abby Whatley winning the first set 7-5. Stuart Martin, having recovered from his mens singles, and his partner Lucy Pratt then just got on top to take the second set 6-4. Stansfield and Whatley took an early lead in the deciding champions tiebreak before somehow Martin and Pratt managed to claw back the deficit before winning the tiebreak 10-7.

The handicap mixed doubles which took place at the same time saw Gordon Taylor & Rita Hampson take on Andy Whitehead and Clare Skinner. Under the handicapping system Taylor and Hampson had to start each game at -15 and this was probably the difference as Whitehead and Skinner managed to win 6-4, 6-4 in another excellent final with some fine rallies.

Two more finals followed on Sunday with Stuart Martin returning in the mens doubles for his third final with the other players all competing in their second final. Again it was a very close match with some really terrific tennis and almost inevitably the final went to three sets. Martin and Kevin Stansfield took the first set comfortably 6-2 but their opponents Gordon Taylor and Ben Wallis stepped up a gear to take the second set and maintained their level to edge home 6-3 in the third set.

The last of the weekend finals was the 60 & over mens doubles which saw Sheridan Easton and Graham Wallis take on Rich Millard and John Moret. The ”younger” pair Easton and Wallis played some great tennis to take the first set 6-2 and storm into a 3-1 lead in the second set. Somehow Millard and Moret raised their level to take the next four games to lead 5-3 but couldn’t quite manage to close out the set which went to an inevitable tie-break. Again the two pairs were hard to separate but unsurprisingly a lob from Wallis proved to be the winning shot as he and Easton took the tiebreak 7-5.

Two other titles were contested on a “round robin” basis and decided before the finals weekend with Abby Whatley crowned as ladies singles champion and with her partner Lucy Pratt she also won the ladies doubles title.

On the league front Wellow received the good news that their Mixed Masters team captained by Mike Bevan in the Portsmouth & District league had won the Division 1 title as a result of their nearest competitors Ryde 1 losing to their neighbours Ventnor. This result meant that Ryde 1 despite having matches still to play could not overtake Wellow in the final table.