On a glorious sunny weekend for tennis, Dumfries Tennis Club hosted the D&G Senior Confined Championship. This year saw 14 players enter the singles and 7 pairs in the Doubles, all hoping to take home the trophies.
The early rounds in the singles on Saturday went as ratings suggested as the four seeds made it through to the semi finals. In the first semi final defending champion and former Dumfries Tennis club coach Colin Dunbar edge a long encounter with current Dumfries Tennis club coach Richie Cunningham. Although records will show a 6-2, 6-2 loss for Richie, the match was closer than this but Colin’s experience, patience and court coverage was enough to hold Richie off. In the second semi final Dan McKiddie took on the current South of Scotland over 45 singles champion Paul Boardman. Again, in another tight match Paul using all his experience to keep in touch with Dan’s raw aggressive power and powerful top spin shots but in the end Dan proved to powerful as he came out on top by taking the match 6-4, 6-3. The Sunday final on paper looked tight and so it proved. Dan raced out the block to take the first set 6-4 and got an early break in the second before Colin started to find his range as he levelled the match by taking the second set 6-3. The championship tie-break started with Dan starting well but Colin’s experience started to pay dividends as he started to win the big points before eventually winning the match by taking the tie-break 10-6 to get his hands on the title once again. In the consolation final Ruairidh McRoberts edged a long tense match against Steven McCracken as both players struggled to contend with the windy condition before Ruairidh took the match 6-1, 6-3.
Again the sun was shining as the doubles got under way on Sunday with an early shock as Martin Wilson and Kyle Singh fought back after losing the first set 6-1 to singles champion Colin Dunbar and his consolation winning partner Ruairidh McRoberts to level the match by taking the 2nd set 6-4 and went on to edge the championship tie-break 10-5 to book a place in the semi final. In the first semi experienced Dalbeattie duo pushed the 2014 father and son pair of Lister and Dan McKiddie all the way after losing the first set 6-2 before taking the second on a match tie-break before running out of steam as Lister and Dan completed the win by taking the championship tie-break 10-4. In the second semi Martin and Kyle couldn’t repeat their success as 2013 champions and former Dalbeattie Stalwarts Fraser Paterson and Brain Litster powered past them 6-1, 6-2. This left a final with Dan McKiddie and Brain Litster both chasing their third win having both won the event previously with different partners and Brian was the defending champion having won last year with Richie Cunningham.
In the final Dan and Lister took an early advantage as they took the first set 6-2. In the second set it was more nip n tuc as it went all the way to 5-5 before Dan and Lister took the final 2 games to secure the title. In the consolation doubles final Chris Topping and Michael Goldie held of a comeback from the singles champions Colin and Ruairidh as the took the match 6-3, 4-6 and 10-8.
D&G Senior Championship results
Dumfries & Galloway Tennis 