Ladies Berks Match Reports

We had a fantastic Berkshire match yesterday on a beautiful blue sky day. It was a Home match against Ascot ladies.  They arrived a little late so we warmed up as soon as they arrived.

The team were Brenda and Georgie first pair and Amber and I second pair.

Amber and I got off to a good start playing against a very good pair, Lisa and Sue. We managed to keep ahead through both sets and got a fantastic result 6-3, 6-3. Some really lovely tennis and lots of deuces.

Meanwhile Georgie and Brenda were having a humdinger of a match against the first pair , Shiplake ladies won the first set 6-3 but Ascot came back to win the second set 4-6. We had all agreed before we started playing that we would do a tie-break instead of a third set as it was such a hot day. We all sat and watched this and it was SO close, Shiplake ladies really battled but very sadly narrowly lost the tie break.

We all had a quick top up of the waters and topped up the suncream and then swapped pairings.

Amber and I played went on to play the first pair Ascot ladies . We had been sitting out for a while and stupidly we said we’d go straight in to the match which we regretted as Ascot ladies were warmed up and they beat us quite convincingly 6-0. Kristy, who was the Ascot Captain had a backhand slice which kept getting the better of us, Amber and I gave ourselves a good talking to and we had warmed up by the second set and battled on and went through to win the second set 7-5. So we then had a championship tie-break. Ascot ladies went up 3 – 0 but we managed to pull it back and went on to win 10-8!! We were so delighted!!

Georgie and Brenda played the second pair, Lisa and Sue and they went on to win the first set 6-1. They had a good battle on their hands for the second set with some amazing rallies and went to a tie-break. They managed to win this which was a fantastic result , so Shiplake won 3 Rubbers to 1! What a great day’s tennis we had .

We sat outside under the umbrella and had a lovely tea; Egg and Cress Sandwiches, Dips, Crudites, Fresh Fruit and Brenda’s delicious homemade gluten free Lemon Drizzle Cake.

Once the Ascot ladies left, we popped open a bottle of fizz to celebrate and sat in the sunshine. Amber had to shoot off as she was entertaining 18 guests that evening!

Thank you ladies for playing and getting such a fabulous result. Onwards and upwards.

A brief summary of today’s match with Caroline, Amber, Katie & Georgie:

1. Lovely sunny day with 10am start
2. Horrible red sandy surface causing lots of skidding. 
3. Friendly ladies, Lorna, Helen, Lisa & Fiona.
4. Strong serve & angled vollies from L& F. Lo & H v consistent.
5. Strange surface favoured Amber’s volleying style.
6. Shiplake lost 3 rubbers to 1.
7. Lunch was boxes of Sainsburys sandwiches & crisps lobbed on to the table unpacked.
8. Good to have played a morning game as we still had the rest of the day ahead. 

Just a quick round up of this afternoon’s marathon against Wokingham. Julia & Katie played Wokingham firsts, Hazel & Jo. Both strong players particularly Jo who liked her volleys. We kept the ball to the back of the court discovering Jo’s backhand weakness there. The score was 7-6, 2-6, 10-8. We battled long and hard but happily just managed to win the tie break.

Sharon was partnering Lotte in her inaugural match. They started off well against Silvia & Petya despite Lotte’s nerves. Two young girls, Petya very tall and competent and Sivia very consistent. The score was 4-6, 1-6. On to the second rubber and K & J took on S & P which turned out to be another long, long marathon ending in a tie break. Unusually we did manage to win this one too. 6-4, 5-7, 12-10. We were exhausted by the end. S & L really picked up their game for the second rubber with Lotte feeling more confident after a break and looking across from our court we could see some epic volleying and fabulous rallies going on. Unfortunately they couldn’t quite manage to convert them to points, scoring 2-6, 5-7. The end result of the match was a draw with 2 rubbers each. Unfortunately it turned out to be a losing draw for Shiplake with 4 sets to 6. So Shiplake get 1 point and Wokingham 2.

Tea was delicious egg sandwiches made by Sharon, dips, cheese and apple cake. We all retired feeling very weary, looking forward to hot baths and glasses of wine.