MINEHEAD Tennis Club's mixed A team played Trull B at Minehead last Thursday evening in difficult windy conditions.

The Trull men were both ex Minehead players and knew the astro turf courts well. Kicking off the evening with the mixed pairings Katherine Tilke and Ricardo Sanchez enjoyed a very close, tight match with Olive Budge and Steve Hunt.

Minehead lost the opening set 3-6 but then rallied to take the second set 6-3 with the championship tie break decider needing to be played; this Minehead clinched decisively by 10 points to 6.

Ladies are proving to be a little depleted for Minehead this season necessitating Claire Pound to step up from the B team to play with Ken Holroyd as second pair against Mason See and Angela Cliffe.

Again a third set championship tie break was required and again it went Minehead's way, winning 7-6 1-6  12-10.

At the halfway stage Minehead were leading by 4 sets to 2. The large crowd enjoyed the hard hitting and long rallies of the men's doubles with Steve and Mason having the edge in a closely fought rubber taking both sets 3-6 4-6.

Fatigue seemed to play a part with the older Minehead men. The ladies doubles was a much longer affair and again a third set tiebreaker was required and again it went Minehead's way with Minehead winning 6-1 4-6 13-11.

The whole match and bonus point rested on the tiebreak outcome of the ladies rubber.This resulted in an overall win for Minehead by 6 sets to 5 with the winning bonus point being awarded to Minehead. 

Minehead Tennis Club's mixed C team were also busy last week playing away against The Elms club in Taunton.

Elms are the only club to play on grass in the West Somerset League and over the last few years have greatly improved the surface, making it always a pleasure to visit the club and play a league match on grass.

Young Sook Bradley and Phil Bastin played first pair against Monica and Andy, losing in the deciding tiebreak 6-2 3-6 6-10 while Corinne and Paul Rees played Ali and Daniel with a very similar result 6-2 4-6 7-10, both deciding tiebreaks going Elms’ way.

At the halfway stage The Elms led by 4 sets to 2. In the ladies doubles the Elms pair of Monica and Ali had a convincing win against Young Sook and Corinne 6-3 6-0 while Phil and Paul took the men's doubles for Minehead playing Andy and Daniel 6-3 6-3.

Phil and Paul had to work hard in the second set after losing the first 2 games. This made  Elms the match winners by 6 sets to 4 and 7 points to 4 with the additional bonus point.