Dumfries Men’s Tennis Team regain the Dumfries & Galloway League meaning they have now won the League 8 years in a row, which is a tremendous achievement. They were pushed very hard by Dalbeattie with only 2 points separating these old rivals.
The Team comprised (left to right) Richie Cunningham, Les Harkness, Chris Topping, Lister McKiddie, Graeme Cross and Lewis Gilmour.
Despite the early morning drizzle the Border Cups tournament went ahead on the weekend of the 18th & 19th August. 10 players made up the singles draw with Jason Grindall (Dumfries) and Sergio Meola (Moffat) winning first round matches again Ewan McMillin and Michael Goldie to advance into the quarter finals. The first quarter final saw Paul Boardman (Dalbeattie) bt Jason 6-0, 6-1 in the first match, followed by wins for Iain Cain (Kirkcudbright) against Brain Litster (Penrith) 6-3, 3-6, 10-8, Stevie White (Dalbeattie) who beat Mike McMillin (Moffat) 6-1, 6-1 and Dan McKiddie (Edinburgh) edging past Sergio 6-4, 6-2.
The semi-finals started late afternoon with Dan McKiddie proving too strong for Iain Cain with a 6-2, 6-1 win before Stevie and Paul played out the longest match of the day, Paul took the first set 7-5 before Stevie leaved the match taking the 2nd set 3-6, then after 1 hour and 52 minutes of play Paul wrapped up the match with a 12-10 victory in the tie-break. In the consolation final Mike McMillin edge a tough battle against Brain 6-7, 6-4, 10-6.
Sundays play saw the singles final kick off first with No 1 seed Paul taking on his younger opponent and No 3 seed Dan. The first 2 sets were shared 6-3, 3-6 before Dan sealed the match to win his first Border Cups singles by taking the tie-break 10-5. In the doubles event there were 6 pairs with 2 groups of 3 playing out on the day. Michael and Martin Wilson lost their first match 6-4, 7-5 to Mike and Sergio before being swept aside by Father and son duo of Lister and Dan McKiddie 6-1, 6-1. The McKiddie’s eased into the final as Sergio had to retire injured with the match score at 6-3, 2-0.
In the second group defending champions Colin Dunbar (Lockerbie) and Johnny Short (Borders) negotiated a tricky start to beat Brian and Dan Donley (Dalbeattie) 6-3, 6-4. Then Paul and Stevie bt Brian and Dan Donley 6-4, 6-4 to set up a final nervous match in the last round robin stages. However Colin and Johnny showed why they have won the title for the last 5 years with a 6-3, 6-0 victory. With the top 2 seeds in the final it promised to be a classic and it didn’t disappoint. Colin and Johnny got swinging early on to take the first set 6-2 before the McKiddie’s came powering back as Dan started to power his forehand through the court and take the 2nd 3-6. With the McKiddie’s on the ascendancy it looked like they were favourites to go on and win the final. They quickly broke the holders to take a 4-0 lead before Johnny and Colin rallied to level it at 4-4, this then spurred the McKiddie’s on as they won point after point to race into a 9-4 and create 5 match points. However the champs still had hopes of getting their hands on the trophy for the 6th year and started to build the points as they chipped away to bring it back to 8-9. The McKiddie’s then served again for the match but match point saved to make it 9-9. Serve was held again to produce a 6th match point but again this was saved before a 7th match point came and went as Johnny and Colin won back to back points to create there 1st match point but this was saved by the McKiddie’s before the holders held serve to create their 2nd and final match point and then break the McKiddie serve to retain the trophy. A tense tie-break which looked to be over early doors but experience and nerve kept the holder going to the end.
The last 4 events for the 2018 summer Red2Yellow tour will be completed over the next 2 Saturdays.
On the 18th August, Beechgrove Tennis Club in Moffat will be hosting a Red and Orange events. This will be the last Orange event of the tour with Jake Irving sitting top with 87 points with Oliver Clark second on 71. Only a win for Oliver can stop Jake winning the Leaderboard. Orange Leaderboard
Then on the 25th Dumfries Tennis club host the last Red and Green events of the tour. With the Red event at Moffat then Dumfries there are still 9 players who could win this Leaderboard but this will become clearer after the Moffat event. Red Leaderboard
In the Green event there are still 6 players in contention for this leaderboard, so still plenty of tennis to play for. Green Leaderboard
There is still time to enter either event, just hit the link below.
D&G Red2Yellow Tour – Red & Orange at Moffat
D&G Red2Yellow Tour – Red & Green at Dumfries
The historic South of Scotland Tennis Championship got under way on Sunday 29th July on the new tennis courts at Moffat. There were 23 scheduled events over the week with over 250 entries in this year’s championship. New for 2018 we ran our first 9s and under boys and girls events and Ladies 40+ singles and doubles. The SoS committee would like to thank various funders, Magnox chapelcross site, D&G Council, SSE Clyde (D&G) Community Fund, Claudio’s restaurant Moffat, Annandale Estates, Beechgrove Tennis Club and the good people of Moffat, it is with their support and funding which allows this great event to keep going for the past 130 years, thank you all.
Play started on the Sunday and in true tradition it rained, which gave the organisers their first problem as they had to relocate the 8s and under boys and girls into the old sports barn which is now “the gym at Moffat”. Thanks to Robert and Paula for helping out with this. The girl’s event produced the first D&G winner of the week as Grace Palmer (Beechgrove Tennis Club) came out on top of the girls 8s and under round robin to take the trophy with Dumfries Autumn Hodgins coming 3rd. In the boys event Carlisle Jake Irving bt Finlay Jones from Yorkshire 10-4 in the final with Logan McCluskey winning the Dumfries battle for third against hitting partner Jack Wearing 10-6.
Play continued on the outside courts despite the rain, as the new courts coped with the constant drizzle. The next trophy won on the Sunday was a match between 2 West of Scotland girls as No1 seed Anna McKnight edge past the No 2 seed Lauryn O’Brien 5-4, 4-2 to claim the 10s and under girl’s title.
SoS Tennis Championship 2018 results
Monday brought some better weather for several more finals, in the girls 12s final Sophia Jenkins Howard from Herefordshire produce a great comeback in the rain to edge past the Borders Ailsa Clark 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 and in the boys 12s final the no 1 seed Alexander English from Perth showed to much strength to beat the Borders Adam Clunie 6-1, 6-0. Alexander claimed his second title with partner Leo Watt as they took the boys 12s doubles 6-4, 6-4 against Carlisle duo of Cameron Cowan and Archie Agnew. The boys 10s final was won by Joseph McLaughlin from Heversham 4-1, 4-1 against Ayrshires Harrison Crann. Elisa Gibson from Strathgryffe Tennis club won the inaugural 9 and under girl’s event with Harry Sangster from Glasgow edging Carlisle Jake Irving 9-7, 2-7, 7-5. Also a special mention to the D&G boys in this event, Harry Brown (Moffat), Brodie Little (Kettleholm) & Grant Kerr (Dumfries) who played some great tennis but lost out in the group stages and to Logan McCluskey and Cameron Hunter from Dumfries Tennis Club who both got to the quarter finals of this event.
Through-out the week the conditions were changing by the hour, damp for long periods with sunshine creeping in now and again but play went on. On Thursday the open events started with the vets on Friday with players coming from all over Scotland, Cumbria, Essex and Lancashire descending into the town of Moffat. Final’s Saturday came with warm dry weather and a busy schedule with local interest in 4 finals. The first title of the day went to Lucia Rizza and Harry Mouratidis who won the Mixed Doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 score line against Zoe Moffat and Daniel Gunn. In the men’s open singles Reuben Henry got his name on the old trophy for the 2nd time having won it back in 2015 as he beat Samuel MacLeod 6-0, 6-2. In the ladies open event last year’s sensation Lucia Rizza couldn’t hold onto her title as she lost to Zoe Moffat from Surrey 6-0, 7-6. In its 4th year, the 45+ gent’s title went to Paul Boardman from Dalbeattie Tennis Club who completed his hatrick of wins as he beat Dumfries Lister McKiddie 6-4, 4-6 10-5. The ladies 40+ singles, which was being played for the first time, Dumfries’s Fiona McCartney bt Kirkcudbrights Debbie McColm 6-1, 6-2. In the doubles Fiona and partner Nancy Gillies edge out the Kirkcudbright duo of Lily Judge and Debbie McColm 6-4, 6-1. Callum Warwick staged a great comeback in the Gent’s handicap final as he recovered from 8-1 down to beat the Borders Colin Green 9-8. The last final of the championship saw Dalbeattie pair of Paul Boardman and Stevie White take on Moffat’s Mike McMillin and Dumfries Lister McKiddie. The first set went the way of Lister and Mike with some clinical doubles play and they took early advantage in the next before the Dalbeattie duo staged the comeback to take the 2nd set on the tie-break. It all came down to the championship tie break with Paul and Stevie holding their nerve to complete the victory 3-6, 7-6(4) & 10-4.
Great to see the new courts in action and on a sunny final day for the championship, we had 40 local players in the event from 5 yrs old Adam Hunter through to our title winning veterans. Follow us on facebook @SoStennischampionship
Dumfries & Galloway Tennis 