TWENTY Wellow Tennis club members took part in the club’s annual Tie Break 10s doubles tournament.

Organised by Stuart Martin who was assisted by Jeanette Worsley, the format involved the participants being split into two groups each of five doubles pairs. In the group stages the doubles pairs played eight championship tie-breaks against the other pairs in the group but with the twist of playing with and against their allocated partner.

After almost three hours of competition the eight individuals with the highest aggregate scores were split into two semi-final groups and each group played two more tense and competitive championship tie-breaks to determine the four finalists - Mike Bevan, Symon Blowers, John Moret and James Skinner.

They then played two more championship tie-breaks in the final. The winner Symon Blowers won both tie-breaks, 10-5 and 10-1, playing with Mike Bevan and John Moret respectively to amass twenty points in aggregate. John Moret finished runner up with fifteen points. In total the four finalists played twelve tie-breaks over the space of nearly four hours with only one short break - an exhausting but very enjoyable afternoon’s tennis.

On the league front Wellow’s Apsley team had a crushing 8-0 victory over Lymington in an away match which was played at Wellow due to Lymington’s courts being unavailable. Lymington won just one set in the ladies doubles against Wellow’s first pair of Claire Marriott and Judy Wallis who won on a championship tie-break. Second pair Sandra Peckham and Simone Arnott coasted to a win dropping just two games. In the mens doubles first pair Kevin Stansfield and Stuart Martin won 6-1,6-2 and second pair Paul Goodman and Mike Bevan dropped just one game. In the first round of mixed doubles matches Wellow won all four events for the loss of just thirteen games.

This victory leaves Wellow lying third in Division 1 level on points with Winchester B who they play in their final match a week on Saturday. A win for Wellow would secure promotion to the Premier Division next summer – which might prove a mixed blessing as the gulf in standard between the two divisions is large. Wellow’s last appearance in the Premier Division was short lived!