Sidmouth’s mixed team set off last Friday on a sunny evening to tackle Tiverton at the local leisure centre.

The courts were immaculate, sadly the tennis was less so!

Mark Heywood and Lesley Cranston made heavy weather of their first match struggling to find any consistency and failing to clinch the advantage points.

They lost in straight sets 1-6, 3-6, but fortunately Heywood found his rhythm in the second rubber and the pair came from behind in both sets to reverse their previous result 6-4, 6-4.

Meanwhile, on the adjoining court Peter Fung and Debbie Snelgrove were entangled in the battle of the tie- break, three over the two contests.

In the first rubber they narrowly lost in the final ‘shoot-out’ but their second match was a marathon, 20 stroke rallies not uncommon.

It too went to the wire with the Sidmouth pair coming from behind to squeeze through 14-12 on dead legs.

The overall result saw honours end even in a 5-5 draw.