Sidmouth ladies A still have work to do with two outstanding matches which will determine whether they can claim second place in their league, writes Kate Truman.

They took steps towards that goal with solid victories in their two matches last week. Against Exeter Golf and Country Club the home side had a convincing win taking all eight points.

The established pairing of Viv Bess and Di Kendall-Torry got off to a flying start by not dropping a game in their first rubber.

Hilary Caldwell and Lesley Cranston were embroiled in some long rallies against less conventional opponents, but came through eventually 6-4, 6-0.

In the reverse contests it was Bess and Kendall-Torry’s turn to grind it out especially when they let a 5-2 lead in the second set become 5-4 at which point Kendall-Torry served out for the match having secured the first set, more comfortably, 6-2.

Caldwell and Cranston had to assert their authority in the first set having won the first two games they promptly lost the next three but then tightened up on the errors and won through 6-3, 6-0.

The visitors, who are used to playing on an artificial surface, struggled with Sidmouth’s courts, due to be resurfaced later this year.

Following this positive start to their promotion campaign Sidmouth continued in the same vein two days later when playing away at Newton Abbott.

Once again Bess and Kendall-Torry showed their partnership experience by convincingly winning both their rubbers 6-3, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-1.

The second pairing on this occasion was Debbie Snelgrove and Hilary Caldwell who were equally strong in their first rubber winning 6-0, 6-2 but narrowly lost out in a tightly contested second match going down 6-4, 1-6, 9-11 in the championship tie-break.

Nevertheless, it all resulted in a heavy points total for Sidmouth courtesy of a 7-2 success.

The ladies played their penultimate match on Monday night of this week and bring the curtain down on their season at Torquay on August 15.