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.
Dumfries & Galloway Tennis 