RACQUETS: Round-up from the courts and tables

PLYMOUTH TROPHYMAN PLYMOUTH & DISTRICT TABLE TENNIS LEAGUE by David Williams

ALTHOUGH her team Woolwell E were beaten 6-4 by Woolwell A in Division One, Lisa Radford scored a superb maximum.

Radford beat Ollie Buddell 11-5, 11-2, 7-11, 11-8, beat Toby Mattacott 7-11, 10-12, 17-15, 11-9, 11-8 and defeated Harry Cutler 11-6, 4-11, 9-11, 11-8, 13-11. Woolwell Extras are finding life in the top division tough after conceding 8-0 to Woolwell E and being beaten 6-4 by Crafthole A (Glyn Price 3 and the doubles with Shirley Luckhurst). Mike Hugh and Uwe Zicket won seven sets for Woolwell D in an 8-2 win at Woolwell G. Crafthole B were too good for Woolwell H 9-1.

Woodland Fort B are moving up the Division Two table after a 7-0 concession from their A team and then an 8-2 win at Astor A. Mark Weymouth and Phil Nile were the unbeaten players for Fort winning seven sets.

Railway A are the leaders but from 5-0 up were held to 7-3 by Crafthole C. With Colin Poyntz back from a long break, Fort A were back to a normal line-up and defeated Inter City B 6-4. Brian Luscombe won three for Fort.

Astor B continued their revival, defeating Astor D 6-4, with reserve Tony Bray outlasting Les Cole. Railway C and Jan Walaszkowski are on the up. Walaszkowki and Tony Freestone scored maximums in a 9-1 win at Astor D and then Railway C beat Astor C (Mike Short 3) 6-4.

In Division Three, Siblyback were indebted to a Colin Jago maximum in a narrow 6-4 win at Astor E. However, three from Russ Keith was not enough to prevent Railway D losing 6-4 to Lee Mill.

Keith and Colin Easton just failed to come back from two games down as Ann Warren and Mark Chapman won 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5.

In a tight match, where five sets went to five games, Woolwell I recovered from 4-3 down to beat Woodland Fort C 6-4. Dave Wills and Chris Batey won seven sets for University A in an 8-2 win at Spar Saltash.

Inter City C fought back well at Woolwell J (Eric Cheung 3) from 5-0 down, only losing narrowly 6-4. An all round team performance from Dave Brenton (2), Alan Hoskin (2) and unbeaten Darren Stockton resulted in a win for Inter City D 8-2 over Woodland Fort D.

Astor G won 6-4 at Woodland Fort H (Nigel Aston 3) in Division Four, with Aston needing five games to beat Dave Rendle (2) and Dave Harding (2).

Hard fought maximums from Mike Wakley and Norman Hall enabled Woodland Fort G to win 7-3 at Astor F. Woolwell K inflicted a heavy first defeat on their M team with Jack Lambert and Ben Williams unbeaten in an 8-2 victory.

Astor H met their match in John Curnow (3) of Inter City F as the teams drew 5-5 in Division Five. Robert Saturn won a straight game maximum for Woolwell O in a 7-3 win at Woolwell N.

Other results: Division Four: Woolwell L 2 Woodland Fort F 2, Inter City E 2 Molyneux Assoc 8, Woodland Fort G 3, Crafthole D 7

BREWIN DOLPHIN MANNAMEAD WINTER TENNIS LEAGUE by David Williams

IN THE Ladies' Doubles Division A, Lyn Helliwell stood in for Sandra O'Sullivan to partner Luisa Warring. The pair needed time to settle against Michelle Cooke and Liz Morley who won the first set 6-0.

Rallies were much closer in the next two sets with Cooke and Morley finally winning 6-0, 6-4, 6-3.

Ann Short and Liz Parks played their first match and when the time limit was reached they were trailing Tania Belcher and Debbie Bradbury 6-5, 4-6, 2-3.

Janet Butler and Linda Haston started slowly against Anna Tickle and Esther Pettit but recovered to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-5. After winning the first set in Division B against Joan McGregor and Helen Foote 6-5, Jean Smith and Liz Gill went 4-0 down in the second set. Remarkably, in such a close match, Smith and Gill won the next six games for a two set lead.

A tight third set was deservedly won by McGregor and Foote on another tie-break leaving Smith and Gill winners 6-5, 6-4, 5-6.

After three consecutive wins, Chrissie Bassett and Coral Smith found Jean Humphries and Lynne MacFarlane too good 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

The best Mixed Doubles match for many seasons saw Richard Avent and Jenny Snell take on Simon Dusting and Hannah Odam.

Odam is an excellent player from Budleigh Salterton, and Avent and Snell narrowly won the first set on a tie-break 6-5. Dusting and Odam led 3-0 in the second set and held on to win it 6-4.

It looked like a first defeat for Avent and Snell, as they were 2-0 down in the final set, but they produced one of their trademark recoveries to win the set 6-3 and the match 6-5 (9-7), 4-6, 6-3. Ricky Palmer and Nikki Aitken combined well in their first match together and had a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over Yuen Sui and Juliet Memery.

Andrew Leigh and Esther Pettit raced away with the first set against Howard and Lynn Helliwell 6-0. The Helliwells came back to only lose the second set on a tie-break before Leigh and Pettit took over again in the third set to win 6-0, 6-5 (7-3), 6-0.

Leigh was in action again with Phil Whitby in Division A of the Men's Doubles against Chris Williams and Paul Wardle, who won 6-2, 6-2, 6-5.

Other results: Ladies' Doubles Division A: L Trebilcock/A Diver beat V Sargeant/N O'Connor 6-3, 6-1, 6-1

Division B: J Poon/T Pemberton beat N Northfield/D Wilson 6-3, 6-1, 6-2

L Galpin/H Robinson beat M Pooley/S Reed 6-1, 6-1, 6-1

C Bunney/J Cansfield beat D Grieve/B Jensen 6-2, 6-0, 6-1

Men's Doubles Division A: N Hunt/S Yeo beat S Randall/M Adams 6-0, 6-4, 6-3

S Kingston/A Mudford beat S Randall/H Bird 6-0, 6-3, 6-3

Division C: M Adams/M Harris beat M Madden/J Holland 6-5, 6-2, 6-4