Sidmouth Tennis Club’s mixed and ladies’ A teams have opened their accounts in their respective winter leagues, writes Lesley Cranston.

The pairings of Peter Fung and Martin Truman, Debbie Snelgrove and Di Kendall-Torry played Lympstone at home, winning three out their four matches by convincing scores. The men only dropped one game in their doubles whilst the ladies had to work a little harder coming through 7-5 6-2. Fung and Snelgrove started slowly losing the first set but took the rubber to a championship tie-break which they narrowly lost 10-8 whilst the other mixed pairing easily won theirs 6-1 6-0. Sidmouth claiming a 7-2 points victory.

The first match was against Exeter B whom they had played the previous week in the final match of the Summer League. Only one member of that team returned to fight another day but with no more success than a week ago. Both Sidmouth’s pairings of Debbie Snelgrove and Lesley Cranston, Viv Bess and Hilary Caldwell were too strong for the Exeter second pair but the first couple were a sterner test with Snelgrove and Cranston succeeding in two sets whilst Bess and Caldwell narrowly lost in the championship tiebreak. Overall points 7-2 to the home team.

Ladies A played neighbours Ottery St Mary who always present a formidable challenge. Sidmouth’s pairings on this occasion were Viv Bess and Di Kendall-Torry, Mary Dean and Lesley Cranston. The opposition presented two pairs of similar strength who made good use of netplay and slice on a slightly damp court. Dean and Cranston had two tightly contested rubbers but combined well together managing to prevail in the championship tie-breaks in each match. Unfortunately, Bess and Kendall-Torry were unable to make the decisive shots at critical moments and lost both theirs in straight sets. Result, a win for Ottery 6-4 in points.

For more information about the club and benefits of membership visit: www.sidmouthtennisclub.co.uk