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Photos: Kathy Burke
The sun set over a glorious day of tennis on Monday evening, which saw three titanic encounters between the colleges of Derwent and Alcuin.
Court 1 saw the mixed doubles partnership between Sarah Hammerton and Alex Cormack of Alcuin defeat Philipe Andely and Victoria Dahlrot of Derwent 6-3.
In a tightly contested match, the standard of tennis was excellent, yet the Alcuin duo just had the edge. Sarah and Alex’s decisive play at the net gave them an advantage against their opponents who fought hard in base line rallies, but ultimately came up short when approaching the net.
Centre court fittingly provided a gripping encounter that saw Paul Teasdale and Caitlin Green of Derwent scrape by as 7-5 winners against Emma Houlden and Muzzy Foley of Alcuin.
This was one that could have been so different on any other day. All four participants played out of their skins, and the service of all players was a particular highlight. The tempo of the game was very fast, and increased as the afternoon wore on.
On court 3, the match was deceptively one-sided. Ollie Wessely and Kathi Thanner of Derwent took on Jackie Mellows and Andy Thompson of Alcuin.
At two games to one, it certainly looked as though it would be a close one. Yet Wessely and Thanner combined brilliantly, forming an almost impenetrable wall that seemed impossible to break down.
Thompson and Mellows tried valiantly however, mustering some of the shots of the afternoon. The fifth game was taken to a deuce, and they were unlucky not to have won the points. Yet the day belonged to the Derwent couple, who offered up more variety in their shot selection and went on to win 6-1.
“It was a tough game” said Wessely after the match, “it could have gone either way”. The three matches really did serve up an ace spectacle of tennis master class. Ollie Wessely goes down as the player of the day, as his service and overall play was the standout performance of the afternoon.
Meanwhile, James comfortably saw off Wentworth 3-0, playing some tennis of the highest calibre.
Dariush Thomas-Kamali and Alex Mitchell made up the James thirdseeds and showcased their ability for all to see with a fine 6-0 victory, marrying well directed groundstrokes with powerful service games to deadly effect.
After their closely fought victory the previous week Will Manners and Sarah Elliot found themselves promoted to number two seeds and took to their new environment like ducklings to the university lake, clinching a hard fought 6-3 victory with Sarah in particular shining and demonstrating some cat like reflexes at the net.
First seeds Christian Smith and Sophie Lodge, who are seen by many as the crème de la crème of the James pairings, certainly producing a performance to match as they raced to a resounding 6-1 victory, drawing many an ooh and an aah from an admiring Wentworth support.
The win marks James’ first of the season, and with three debutants in the team and many more rising through the ranks they can look forward with relish to the rest of the season.
Being unable to give himself player of the week, captain Will Manners did the next best thing and gave it to his more talented partner, Sarah Elliot.
Reporting: Joe Pether and William Manners
“It could have gone either way.” ……really? Looks like they took a bit of a thrashing to me. I mean, 6-1? Could have gone either way? Don’t think so.
@turdgayman obviously i have fallen for one of sport’s cliches by saying a comment like that but i stand by my comments.
out of the first 5 games 4 went to deuce. as deuce is often quite a lottery, knock-out part of the game, 1 small error and you find yourself down a game. we won 3 of these 4 particular games, if we hadn’t the victory could have really gone the other way.
the particular tie hinged also on the close7-5 game. so victory could have gone either way.
nice to see vision covering more eclectic summer sports.
horrendous article, demonstrating a complete lack of knowledge of the sport and writing ability. In fact, I would like to put it to the readers of this article that the author is a poor student, most likely failing his exams in spectacular fashion. aww yeah
what about the other matches?