Francos Autumn Tennis League
With only this week and next week left in the group stages there was much at stake in as the trams entered week 8 of 9 of this year’s Francos Autumn tennis league.
Monday Night
Having led the group for the first four weeks the Bolzanos found themselves down in third spot and in desperate need of a big win. While they were only two games behind second placed Milanos, tonight’s match against bottom team Ferraras represented their best chance of gaining that big score to put them back in contention. However the Ferraras were not for lying down fighting doggedly on all courts, winning two and drawing one of the eight matches and only narrowly losing three games. Step up Bolzanos team captain Alex Knowles and Enid Redmond who played superbly to record a resounding 11-1 win with Alex modestly putting the margin of victory down to their opponents love affair with the wrong side of the net. The final match saw a second 11-1 win for the Bolzanos through top mens pairing Clive Funston and JR Dundas both of whom were in majestic serving form giving the Bolzanos a somewhat flattering but nonetheless crucial 61-35 victory.
Having just seen their nearest rivals for second spot, the Bolzanos, self-destruct, the Margerhitas were confident of leap frogging into that second semi spot as they took on group strugglers the Ferraras. However there was nothing between the teams in the first and second seeded matches with both the doubles and mixed matches all ending 7-5 leaving the sides at 24 games each. It was in the level three and four seeded matches that the Margerhitas were able to make their greater strength in depth tell as they won all four matches by a combined 33-15 giving them an overall 57-37 victory and crucially a 19 game lead over the Bolzanos who they play in next week’s last round. The key win came in the mixed doubles when Cormac Jordan and Mary Griffin used all their experience to overcome Kevin Burns and Liz McGuinness for an excellent 9-3 win with both Cormac and Mary going on to score 8-4 wins in their respective doubles matches.
While the Bolzanos are not yet mathematically out of the semis they will need an unlikely 20 game win over the Margerhitas in next week’s final round to progress.
Wednesday Night
Martin Sharkey’s Chilli Monks knew that they would need to beat tonight’s opponents the Billi Billis handsomely if they were to make the semis and while the victory was achieved it was by the minimum margin of 49-47 and ultimately too little too late. Hopes were raised in the mixed doubles when Chilli Monk’s Tony Ringland and Joy Fletcher brought home their match against Niall McGandy and Ruth Elliott 9-3 with forceful and decisive net play making the difference and giving the Monks an overall four game lead at the halfway stage. However they were not able to build on this lead in the second half with all four doubles ending in tight finishes including a battling 6-6 in the ladies match between Billi Billis Ruth and Vivienne Kells and Chilli Monks Joy and Yvonne Masterson leaving the closing margin at two games in favour of the Chilli Monks. This leaves the Monks twelve games behind the Billi Billis which is further compounded by the Monks having to play runaway group leaders the Mad Fish in next week’s final match.
In the nights closing match it was business as usual for the Mad Fish who romped home 69-27 against a deflated Early Birds team. This was the seventh win in a row for the Mad Fish and by far the biggest win for any team in this year’s league. While there were big performances from all the fish it was Andy Elliott and Roisin O’Connell’s 12 -0 score line in the mixed that took the eye with both Andy and Roisin going on to record 10-2 wins in their doubles to top score with 22 games each. Equally surprising was that while the Mad Fish were winning all around them that Marius Blake and Martina Boyd should allow their 100% record partnership to fall tonight as a brilliant display of never say die tennis from David Casey and Early Birds captain Sheila Colville secured a lone 7-5 win for the Birds and also prevented that much unwanted whitewash. On a night of perfect weather for tennis it was almost but not quite the perfect result for the Mad Fish who are assured of the top spot in this group and can look forward to a semi-final against the Monday night runner up.
Francos League Standings after eight weeks with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Milanos 418 games, Margerhitas 408, Bolzanos 389, Ferrraras 321
Wednesday Night: Mad Fish 464 games, Billi Billis 385, Chilli Monks 373, Early Birds 314
