Sidmouth men’s A team played two matches in the space of six days, writes Kate Truman.

Despite having to rotate their usual pairings due to absences, they still managed to net a brace of good results.

A team of Jake Harrison (acting as team captain), Mike Fletcher, Alex Spalding and Bob Heffill took six points out of a maximum eight in their home tie against Tipton St John.

Harrison and Fletcher won their matches in straight sets, while Spalding and Heffill, having lost to the first pairing, recovered well in their second to win 10-0 in the championship tie break and take the win.

On a fine spring evening this week, Sidmouth then travelled to Torquay to play on their artificial clay, a new experience for the team of Jake Harrison, Martin Truman, Jon Powell and Chris Woodruff. Both Torquay and Sidmouth went into the tie unbeaten this season. Torquay proved too strong for the untested combination of Powell and Woodruff who lost in straight sets, struggling to adjust to the different surface.

The overall match result was balanced out by Harrison and Truman who came out on top in two long matches. After a strong 6-2, 6-3 performance against the Torquay first pair, Harrison and Truman had to dig a little deeper in a feisty and competitive second match, coming back from a set down to win 5-7, 6-0, 10-4.

Although that left the match score at 4-5, Sidmouth returned home pleased and confident that the team could win outright in what might become the table-topping decider to be played at home in the last game of the season against Torquay later in the summer.