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TENNIS

 

All the up-to-date news from Boston Tennis Club

 

March 2006

 

News for week ending Sunday March 26

 

The over-45 men’s team from Boston Tennis Club won their first round match in the Veteran Lawn Tennis Associations knockout competition. A first round tie against Peterborough was their opening obstacle. The team of John Gibson, John Fisher, Chris Cook and Richard Tupper achieved a win in some style. Both pairs won their first round rubbers giving Boston a good opportunity. The chance was seized and another rubber was added in the second round to give the team an overall 3-1 win.

It was also the beginning of the KIA Junior National Club League at the weekend.

 

The Boston under-12s girls team made a start to their matches in this event. The Boston Tennis Club A team took on the Boston B team in this age group. Playing for the under-12s A team were Kathie Dawson, Elizabeth Hall and Sophie Hawkesworth. Playing for the B team were Emily Hawkesworth, Beth Ridlington and Charlotte Harness-Knowles. After the singles round of matches the girls of Boston A stood 2-1 in the lead. Kathie and Sophie then teamed up as the Boston A doubles pairing against Emily and Charlotte. a good doubles followed which was won 6-3, 6-2 to Boston A.

 

Meanwhile, as the Boston and District Winter League draws to a close, summer matches begin this coming weekend. Boston men’s first CL team will play David Lloyd, West Bridgford in the KIA National Club League on Saturday at Boston. The match begins at noon and support is welcome. Also, the Lincolnshire Doubles League will begin at the weekend (April 1 and 2).

 

 

BOSTON AND DISTRICT WINTER LEAGUE

 

 

P

W

WD

D

LD

L

Pts

Boston B

11

10

0

0

0

1

30

Spilsby

10

8

0

0

0

2

24

Boston E

11

5

1

1

1

3

19

Boston D

10

5

2

0

0

3

19

Billinghay

8

5

1

0

0

2

17

Louth

10

5

1

0

0

4

17

Woodhall

10

3

1

0

2

4

13

Pilgrim

11

3

0

0

1

7

10

Horncastle

10

2

1

0

1

6

9

Boston A

11

2

0

0

2

7

8

Rochford

9

1

1

0

0

7

5

 

News for week ending Sunday March 19

 

In the Winter Singles Day League at Boston Tennis Club, all four players at the top of the leader board are due to play against each other this month. Jeremy George-Jones, Richard Tupper, Richard Walker are all in Division One of the league for March. Jeremy continues to enjoy a healthy lead over his nearest rivals with Richard Tupper in second position but nine points adrift of the leader. Then the gap closes with not only John Fisher and Richard Walker jostling for third position, but also Tim Moorhouse, Phillip Cosgriff and Chris Mepham in contention.

 

Older competitive players at Boston Tennis Club enjoy the opportunity to play in the National Veteran LTA competition. First round matches in this national knockout event must be played by mid-April. There are numerous age groups, but it was the turn of the younger end of the scale to have their first match at the weekend. As it turned out the over-35 men also had their last match in the main event when they lost out 3-1 to West Bridgford. A potentially strong team and a home tie were insufficient advantages against strong opposition. The team of Mark Thompson, Simon Bush, Ray Frankish and John Gibson presented a valid first round effort but missed out on both rubbers. The team salvaged a rubber in the second round but the overall 3-1 loss dismissed them from the

competition for this year.

 

Meanwhile the league tables for the Lincolnshire Veterans League are recently released. Boston ladies teams finished a respectable mid-table with the men’s team finishing in a creditable third place.

 

News for week ending Sunday March 12

 

Juniors from Boston Tennis Club took part in their first ever tournament at the weekend. a mini tennis red team tournament gave young competitors the chance to test out their skills. The winning team emerged after some good entertaining tennis by the youngsters — David Cheer, Alicia Hubbard, Nitin Joachim, Tristan Martin and Sophie Walsh. The tournament was organised by Boston Community Tennis Partnership, sponsored by Barclays Brokers Investment Services.

 

In the LTA’S inter-county leagues, the Lincolnshire over-65s team began their league matches for this season. A win against Wiltshire was the order of the day for the Lincolnshire men with the team of four players including two Boston Tennis Club stalwarts Bob Haddow and Colin Tuffs. Meanwhile, for other players eager for competition there is also the start of the Lincolnshire Doubles League which will get under way at the beginning of April. There are two Boston teams in all of the three divisions for the men and two Boston teams in the first and second division in the case of the ladies. The exception this year is the ladies’ fifth team which is the sole Boston team in the ladies third division. Many of the teams will begin their matches with the fixture against the other Boston team in their division.

 

The first matches in this year’s KIA National Club Tennis League begin in three weeks’ time.

Boston Tennis Club men’s team will be playing in National Division One and are placed this season in the North Midlands region consisting of teams form Nottingham, Derby, Manchester and Sutton Coldfield. The first match on April 1 is a home tie against David Lloyd West Bridgford.

 

Boston Tennis Club ladies are in National Division Two and placed in the East Midlands region with teams from Cambridge, Norwich and Hertfordshire.But they begin the season away on April 9 to Ashby. However, the winter season is still to be completed and two more matches were played at the weekend in the Boston and District Winter League. Boston A were at home to Billinghay. The team of Callum Simmons, Will Mason, Charles Cottrell and Nathan Cook won three out of the eight sets, just missing out in one set that would have given the team a draw. A draw was, however, achieved by Boston D team playing against Pilgrim Tennis Club. John Gibson, Mary Thomas, Oliver Thomas and Sarah Grant looked in good shape after the first round but only added one more set in the second round, missing out on a tiebreak, to finish level with the opposition. The games score was also close but Boston D had the edge by two games.

 

Boston Tennis Club’s open day will be on Thursday April 13. There will be a free adult group lesson on that evening between 7pm and 8.15pm. An adult course will begin on Thursday April 27, 7pm to 8.30pm. There will be free coaching for under-16s on Thursday April 13 from 11am until 1pm.

 

News for week ending Sunday March 5

 

In the Boston and District Winter Tennis League, a win on Sunday for Boston B confirms the team as the league champions. In their last match of the season against the Boston E, the B side lost only one set and the result places the team firmly at the top of the tree,  writes Mary Smura. Boston B on this occasion composed Michael Audus, Ray Frankish, Sev Smura and Simon Walker. Boston E team Peter Elphick, Geoff Droy, Rod Horne and Steve Ridlington.Boston C team lost out to Horncastle in one of their matches of the season. The team of Rachel Atkinson, Chris Beale, Helen Cook and Tricia Sweeney had close encounters but only won one set during the morning.

 

Meanwhile, the winter singles leagues are in to the penultimate month of play. Callum Simmons is the front runner at the top of the leaderboard. Ray Frankish is in second place with Will Mason in third. This month Callum and Will maintain their places in the premier league with Ray Frankish and Geoff Short gaining promotion from the lower group. With only a handful of points separating the top three contenders there will be some crucial matches played during March.

 

In the junior league, it is tight at the top with five players all within a point of each other. Tom Phoenix is one point ahead from Thomas Emerson, Ben Mills and Callum McCaig. And one point behind this group of players is Elizabeth Hall. However, it is Carl Robinson in seventh position on the leader board who made big gains during February and finished top of group one. Emily Hawkesworth and Madeline Verdegaal, who both compete in the singles leagues were both successful recently in an Ariel Winter 10-and-under tournament.

 

Emily and Madeline both progressed to the semi-finals of this event from where Emily moved on to the final. Madeline lost out in her semi against Laura Hanson (Lincoln) in a close this set tie-break.

Emily, however, went on to play against Laura in the final and was the overall winner of the tournament.