Leaders Lillington Free Church held to a draw

Church’s Lee Dorning won his three singles in straight games and Jack Green and Sam Weaving added singles but Ryan Lines and Matt Outhwaite both secured braces and pocketed the doubles.

WCC A eased relegation fears with a 7-3 verdict over Free Church C. Taran Dhillon notched a treble, Niall Herbert bagged two and Chris Brewer one. Brewer and Herbert won the doubles in 5. Church replied through Tom Hunt (2) and Chris Blowey (1).

There was a shock in Division 2 when Eathorpe A edged leaders Nomads Aces 6-4. Walter Warburton was the thorn in Aces’ side taking a maximum including a 13-11 in the 5th win over Paul Rowan. Marius Morariu ‘s double also included a tight win, 11-9 in the 5th over Tony Thomas. Elliott Hey and Marius won the doubles. Simon Nolan (2), Rowan (1) and Thomas (1) kept Nomads in contention.

WCC Coots romped to a 9-1 success against Eathorpe B. Mark Freeman and Arun Jogi were unbeaten, Cliff Jackson won two, losing to Mark Bastick, and won the doubles with Freeman.

WCC Bears travelled to Warwick University A and returned with 6 points, despite the fact that none could beat Pranav Gudipati who won his three without dropping a set. Zhuomin Tao posted one for the students but Bears claimed the win after Chris Hughes and Clive Irwin each won twice and Paul Calloway won once. Calloway and Irwin took the doubles 3-1.

Flavels have moved into second place after a close match with Free Church E. Shivam Kapur led the way with a hat-trick and then he and Trevor Bradley won the doubles 13-11 in the 5th. Luke Hobbins had two wins, but suffered an 11-9 defeat in the 5th at the hands of Stefan Birca. Birca (2), Chris Jones (1) and Dan Shaw (1) scored for Church.

Lillington Free Church F held on to second spot in Division 3 after overcoming Eathorpe C 7-3. Susie Swan’s triple was achieved in straight sets, Nick Newman also won his three and Morgan Page contributed one. John Ablett and Darren Hadley won singles and the doubles for the villagers.

Whitnash B squeezed past Free Church G 6-4 thanks in the main to a hat-trick from Paras Tejani. Tamas Nemeth was also in good form, winning two and joining Tejani for a doubles success. Radu Draghici won two for Church, Michael Khovanov won one and reserve Tudor Draghici, stepping up from Division C, exceeded expectations with a single.

Moreton Morrell Tennis Court Club thumped Free Church H 9-1, led by Kannan Nithi who maintained his 100% average. Doug Holden and Pablo Smith also remained unbeaten on the night and it was left to Deva Bakthisaran and Nick Darwen to avoid the whitewash with a doubles win. Rugby E pipped Ashorne A 6-4. Hurshvardan won his singles and the doubles with Grace Newman who won two. Jim Goodwin starred for Ashorne with a brace with Paul Hedges and William Little taking singles.

WCC Codgers swept aside Eathorpe D 9-1. Les Hoggins and Kim Wong were unbeaten in singles and doubles and Kevin Finn posted two wins. Luis Baxter got the consolation.

WCC Flounders accounted for WCC Dinos 7-3. Andy Caine and Steve Proctor were too strong in both singles and doubles but Colin Astbury, Jason Grey and William Hung all went home with a single win. Leaders Rugby D visited Nomads Dragons and went home with 8 points. Pablo Caldas starred with a treble, Martyn Lilley and Chris Maddox notched twosomes, both losing to Jon Waters, and Caldas and Lilley won the doubles.

The 2-aside Spring League started this week. Ashorne C replaced an Eathorpe Team and slotted into Division B and a new Eathorpe J team replaced a Rugby side in Division D.

The Autumn Division A title holders, Ashorne A began the campaign with a 4-1 win at Rugby F. Richard Grover won his two, Alexandros Plianos added one, losing to Pablo Caldas in 5, and the duo took the doubles.

Eathorpe A whitewashed Radford A 5-0 through Darren Hadley and Toby John and the other promoted team, Free Church I, went down 2-3 to WCC Flounders. Simon Chalker won two for the victors and secured the doubles with Eric Barthorpe. Alex Bosworth and Finn Bradley shared Church’s points with Bosworth.

The new entrants in Division B, Ashorne C, missed out on a win by the narrowest margin going down 2-3 to Free Church K. Steve Handsley won one and partnered Steve Bolton to the doubles but Toby Roe defeated Bolton and then pipped Handsley 11-9 in the 5th. With Chris Bosworth also beating Bolton, Church had the win.

The biggest winners in Division C were Free Church J who cast aside promoted Eathorpe H 5-0, Phil Booth and David Wedgbury the players in form. Free Church M accounted for the other promoted side, Warwick University B, but by a 3-2 margin. All the players secured one win, Alfie Green and Johan Pretorious for Church and Keyaan Chugthi and Tauseef Parkar for the students but the Church pairing clinched the doubles in the 5th.

Free Church L edged their N clubmates 3-2. Tudor Draghici won his two for the victors who conceded two singles. Keerthi Bakthisaran was drafted in from her Division D match to net the doubles with Draghici.

Free Church O squeezed past new team Eathorpe J 3-2 in Division D, Manas Krishnan won his two and Keerthi Bakthisaran added one with Mark Popham taking a single and joining Dave Hawkes to win the doubles.