Our first-round match with Bridport took place at Seacourt on Saturday 8th November.
At the start of the match, Bridport declared that they could not field a 50 singles player so conceded the rubber, putting us 1.0 up . With this boost, Graham Law and Colin Jones were up first. Their opponents settled quickly and took the first set. Playing some decent tennis, we took the 2nd set 6.5. There was nothing in it in the final set and inevitably, after a punishing hour and three quarters on court, it went to 5 all. Bridport edged the final game and took the rubber, levelling the match.
On next, Mark Gillespie played some copybook tennis to win in straight sets, putting us 2.1 up.
Next up was Matt Simpson, playing the 40 singles. Matt was playing an opponent whose handicap was, on paper, 7 points better than his. However, Matt put him under pressure from the start and, running everything down, he took the rubber in 2 sets. This gave us the match.
Last on were Simon Flynn and Alex Garside. They took the first set against an unorthodox pairing, but with pride to play for, Bridport rallied and took the next two sets to make the final match score 3.2 to Seacourt. Thanks to Drew for marking and to Fiona for the excellent food. Next round is also at home on the 29th November.