Despite the turn for the worse in the weather all four matches in round 7 of 9 of the Francos Spring Tennis League managed to complete.
Monday Night
Monday’s first match saw second placed Silverhill Ducks captained by Michelle McTeague up against Yvonne Masterson’s Francos Specials with the Specials looking to go through the whole league undefeated. After the top and bottom mixed doubles produced nip and tuck 6-6 draws it was yet again the impressive Francos Specials pairing of Ollie McShea and Lisa Greaves who secured the crucial victory impressively beating Paul Lendrum and Louise McGann 9-3. A 7-5 win for Ducks Jason Burns and Bennie Sheridan over Kevin Burns and Michelle Kennedy kept the Ducks in touch at 4 games down going into the doubles. Four closely matched duels followed in the doubles but two 6-6 draws and two 7-5 wins for the Specials firstly by Davy Thompson and Ollie McShea and then by the Girls on Fire pairing of Michelle Kennedy and Yvonne Masterson closed the tie out 52-44 in favour of the Specials.
Having just seen second placed Silverhill Ducks beaten, Seamus O’Connell’s Fine Wines had a chance to erase the damage of last week’s heavy defeat and rejoin the race for the second semi spot. They got off to the perfect start against Ken Yang’s Crème Brulees as Jerome Nicolle and Sonja Hateboer quickly secured a 10-2 win in the top match ove the out of sorts Clive Funston and Brenda Davis. The Fine Wines dominance continued with Martin Hamblin and Geraldine Millar winning 8-4 against Alex Knowles and sub Ruth Armstrong leaving the Fine Wines 12 games ahead at the half way point. There was a glimmer of hope for the Crème Brulees as Ken Yang and sub Garth Armstrong stormed into a 9-0 lead but even then Seamus and Reggie Ferguson managed to limit the damage to 9-3. With Sonja and Geraldine carrying their mixed form into the doubles winning 9-3 the Fine Wines ran out 59-37 winners and in so doing closed the gap to second from 24 games to a more realistic target of 11 games.
Wednesday Night
Wednesday’s first match saw Sheila Colville’s Chilli Monks consolidate their lead at the top of the group with a comfortable and 62-34 victory over bottom placed Early Birds. The Monks could not have had a better start as Dominic Burns and Jenny Humphreys continued their impressive run of recent form beating Innes Redmond and Kate McManus 9-3. Veronica Bogue and sub Jason Burns immediately backed this up with an 8-4 over sub Sean Bogue and Heather Williams and while the final two mixed matches were tight, the Monks nonetheless held a strong 30-18 lead at the half way point. The doubles proved just as difficult for the Early Birds as this time Stuart Miller and John O’Callaghan did the damage winning 10-2. The final win came from Jenny and Veronica who rounded off a great night for the Monks with a 9-3 win leaving Jenny as best Monk on the night winning an impressive 18 of her 24 games.
With the Monks now looking home and hosed for top slot Wednesday’s second match now became a straight shootout between second placed Pizza Slicers and third placed Private Diners as the Diners looked to bridge a 17 game gap to that all important second qualifying spot. The match started out evenly but given the high winds starting to blow the heavier hitting of the Pizza Slicers started to tell with Johnny Guette and Anne Smyth making the significant move with an impressive 11-1 victory on court 3. When Slicers Emmett Stewart and Aine King followed this with a 9-3 win on court four the semis were beckoning for the Pizza Slicers. While Private Diners Keith Miller and sub Rory Houston did manage to stem the tide with a 7-5 win in the men’s doubles it was not enough and a final 9-3 win for the regular winning partnership of Anne Smyth and Aine King sealed a resounding 60-36 win for the Pizza Slicers. The Slicers are now 39 games clear with two weeks to go and look to have secured their place in the semis.
Standings after Week 7
Monday: 372 Francos Specials; 340 Silverhill Ducks; 329 Fine Wines; 303 Crème Brulees
Wednesday: 373 Chilli Monks; 356 Pizza Slicers; 317 Private Diners; 298 Early Birds
