Tennis: Helensburgh team's emphatic win

Jul 2 2009 By Andy Galloway

HELENSBURGH Tennis Club’s men's first team finished their league campaign with an emphatic 9-0 win over Giffnock.

The 2009 team of Robert Dunbar, Steve Losh, Niall Hope, Alan MacBeath, Hadden Smith, Alastair Hope and Bobby Kerr won five matches and lost three, two of which were narrow 4-5 defeats. Helensburgh will probably finish in third place in division one and keep their place for another year.

The ladies first team were in action at Thorn Park two weeks ago and won 6-3 but then struggled against a strong Western side last week who beat them 1-8.

Despite their mixed season, the ladies are confident of staying in the premier division for another season.

The ladies and men's first teams joined up to play mixed doubles in the first round of the Clydesdale Cup last week.

The Helensburgh side recorded at fine 7-2 win over Titwood and play Strathgryffe in the next round. There were 3-0 wins for Karrie Walters and Robert Dunbar, Yolandi Trewhella and Niall Hope.

Alastair Hope and Ann Morison lost 1-2. Alastair couldn't understand why his serves kept hitting the top of the net, even after the net had been checked by the opposition at the start of the match.

At the beginning of the third set he asked for the net to be measured again and found that it was almost an inch and a half too high.

After the adjustment Ann and Alastair won the set 6-2.

The ladies’ second team will be happy the season is over as they struggled in the first division, winning only one of their matches. Team captain Carol Bews was upbeat, however, and praised her team for their commitment over the season.

The men's second team won 6-3 at Thorn Park and team captain David McCowan has one eye on promotion as his team have won five out of six matches, with only Milngavie to play.

The men's fourth team continued their winning streak with two great wins recently. Their first win was at Titwood where Mike Wright and Michael Griffin won 6-3, 6-1, 7-5.

Stephen Humphreys and Andrew Morison won 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. A new pairing at third couple, Peter Bruce and Clement Sreves had a frustrating match against a couple who got everything back – usually over their heads!

There was not much between the teams but the sets slipped away from the Helensburgh pair 3-6, 1-6, 4-6. Final score was a 6-3 win for Helensburgh.

The following week the team was back in demolition mode as they beat Westerton 9-0. Mike Wright and Liam Chambers won 6-2, 6-1, 6-0.

Stephen Humphreys and Michael Griffin lost the first game but won the rest, finishing 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, while Andrew Morrison and Robbie Singer managed a clean sweep, winning 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.