Two top-flight wins in week for Rothiemurchus & Aviemore mixed pairings
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Grantown Tennis Club's ladies came mighty close to gaining their first points in division one other than the one given to teams which turn up.
The decision was made several years ago to differentiate between teams who played a match and lost, and those who cancelled for reasons other than those allowed in the rules.
The latter receive a one point deduction in addition to not being awarded the ‘turning up’ point.
The match was a tale of two halves.
Neither Grantown pair was able to come close to the visitors’ first seeds who won their rubbers 6-2, 6-2; and 6-3, 6-1.
The most the homesters could hope for was a share of the points but, to do that both remaining rubbers, against the visitors’ second seeds, had to be won.
Lindsay Tinney and Diane Sellars stepped up to the mark and, getting the better of the Inverness couple, kept the team’s hopes alive.
The hopes were dashed however when Mandy Davidson and Pauline Mitchell dropped their first set 3-6.
This meant that even if the Grantonians won the sets to come, a drawn outcome had gone.
Following their opening Division 2 fixture defeat at Elgin, Kingussie ladies have gone on to record three successive victories.
The team tops the table on sets won to sets played percentage (74.2 per cent) with Inverness B on 65.7 per cent and 56.8 per cent to Elgin B.
All three are on ten points.
The latest win came in the away match at Forres where they annihilated their hosts eight sets to love.
Down Aviemore way the Rothiemurchus club finds its B and C teams leading the way in Division 3 (Highland).
The second string are on top with twelve points from four matches, just a point ahead of the Cs who are on 11, having drawn with Tain in the opening week.
Both teams were dominant in their last outings , winning 8-1 and 8-0 respectively.
Men
Grantown’s men’s A team gained a draw at Forres, taking their points tally to five from four outings. They are level with Inverness B, and Forres are just two points ahead of them. It looks like this relegation battle will be one to watch.
In Badenoch, the Kingussie men had hoped to emulate the women’s feat and go to the top of their division.
However, it was not to be as their Lossiemouth visitors proved to be too strong.
Grant Davis and Colin Ramsay took both of their coaster opponents to match tie-breaks but were outplayed in both.
Chris Donald and Urdin Salazar Roy were given short shrift in the 2v1 encounter but came back in fine style, in their second contest, and it looked as though the set would have to be decided by a tie-break.
The Lossie duo held out to take it 7-5. Because of the time the 1v2 rubber took to complete, Donald and Roy only managed to complete the one set.
Mixed
The Rothiemurchus mixed team recorded two wins in their last two matches to move them into a challenging position in the first division title race.
They defeated Inverness A in a relatively speaking one sided affair. Only one rubber, 2v2, was lost and even then, it had to go to a match tie-breaker.
There then followed the Strathspey derby when they easily swept aside their Grantown visitors.
Results
Ladies
Division 1: Grantown A 4 Inverness A 5
Division 2: Forres 0 Kingussie 8
Division 3 Highland: R&A C 8 Inverness C 1; Bellfield Park 0 R&A B 8
Division 3 Moray & Strathspey: R&A D 0 Rothes A 8
Men
Division 1: Forres A 4 Grantown A 4
Division 2: Kingussie 2 Lossiemouth 7
Division 3: Inverness C 8 Grantown B 0; R&A 4 Rothes 4
Mixed
Division 1: Nairn A 8 Grantown 0; R&A A 7 Inverness A 2; R&A 8 Grantown 0.
