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Galbraith Highlands Tennis League: Elgin lose to Bellfield Park in Inverness and take on Rothes and Lossiemouth in local derby matches


By Craig Christie

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ELGIN Tennis Club met their match in the latest Galbraith Highlands tennis league men’s league match.

The children from Elgin and Rothes’ A and B teams who met at Cooper Park for a great afternoon of mini tennis.
The children from Elgin and Rothes’ A and B teams who met at Cooper Park for a great afternoon of mini tennis.

It was always going to be a battle between 2019 champions Elgin and the new kids on the block from the Bellfield Park club.

With both teams having won their opening fixtures, the scene was set for a showdown in Inverness.

The opening salvos were a mixed bag for Elgin with Henry Archibald and Richard Wormald losing 6-0, 6-1 in the fight of the first seeds.

Meanwhile brothers Zen McClure and Nio Trujilo kept their team’s slim hopes alive by taking the 2v2 rubber to a first set tie-break.

Having just lost that, the pair went on to win the second before succumbing to the power of the Bellfield duo in the first to 10 match breaker.

The reverse doubles saw the Highland Capital side surge ahead to record a resounding result.

Elgin will be out for revenge when the return is held on their surface on the final day of the competition (July 1).

In the Ladies League (Moray), Rothes recorded a win over Elgin’s second team.

Johanne Dunn and Maureen Turner led the charge taking both their rubbers (6-4, 6-3 and 6-4, 6-4).

It was then down to second pair, Martina Munro and Alannah Ayres to snatch one set from their two encounters to give the Speyside quartet an unbeatable lead.

First up for the Rothesians were Joan Flett and Hilary Dawson who managed to keep the visiting duo at bay with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline.

A draw seemed on the cards but Munro and Ayres had other thoughts, setting about Sarah Macdonald and Angela McWilliam with a vengeance, romping through the first set 6-0 and, despite losing the second set and the tie-breaker, they had done enough to wrap up the three points.

The Moray Mixed competition entered its second phase on Monday.

With seven teams taking part, they played each other once followed by a knockout involving the top four.

Top dogs Findhorn were up against fourth place Forres, booking their final place with an overwhelming 8-1 victory.

Findhorn’s opponents will be Elgin C who travelled the five miles to the coast to meet Lossiemouth who finished phase one in second place.

The first round of rubbers ended with the teams all square.

Grant Higgins and Joan Flett put Elgin two sets up, defeating David Williams and Carol Lennon 6-1, 6-0.

The coasters fought back with Tim Dickinson and Laura Kelly getting the better of Blair Nairn and Angela McWilliam (6-2, 6-4).

On to the reverse doubles and the 2v2 rubber ended with a 6-1, 6-3 victory for Nairn and McWilliam. The score-line now read 4-2 to the Duff Avenue side.

The match was out of the seasiders' reach when Higgins and Flett took the first set against Dickinson and Kelly.

However, the Lossie couple were no pushovers and almost forced their opponents to a tie-break. Unluckily for them a couple of unforced errors put paid to their hopes. 5-2 to Elgin.

Dickinson and Kelly were now merely playing to reduce the difference, in the scoreline, between the teams.

As the next set progressed neither side was able to stamp their authority on the situation and a, first to seven, tiebreak seemed the inevitable outcome.

And so, it transpired. The breaker was a nervy affair but Elgin held on to register a 9-7 win.

The final is held at Lossiemouth and the third place play off at Findhorn, both on Monday.

Results, Mixed:

Findhorn 5 Gordonstoun 2

Aberlour 3 Lossiemouth 6

Findhorn 8 Forres 1

Ladies

Elgin B 4 Rothes 5

Inverness A 7 Elgin A 2

Men

Bellfield Park 8 Elgin A 1

Elgin D 1 Lossiemouth 8

Lossiemouth 8 Gordonstoun 0

Junior, 16s

Rothes 10 Elgin 3

Fraser Scott beat Lewis Simpson 6-4, 6-2

Liam Anderson beat Alexander McKendrick 6-3, 6-3

Marcus Alliod beat Tomas Allan 6-4, 7-5.

Finlay Cameron lost to Finlay Murdoch 2-6, 1-6

Scott/Anderson beat Simpson/McKendrick 6-4, 4-6, 10-6

Alliod/Cameron beat Allan/Murdoch 6-4, 6-3.

14s

Bellfield Park B 9 Rothes A 4

Elgin 12 Bellfield Park A 1

Lewis Simpson won 6-1, 6-3; Tom Christie won 3-6, 6-4, 10-8; Finlay Murdoch beat Henry Leitch 6-0, 6-0. Simpson/Christie won 6-2, 6-3.

Rothes A 0 Bellfield Park B 12

Hamish Scott lost 2-6, 2-6; Ben Ross lost 3-6, 3-6; Shane Fox lost 4-6, 3-6; Finlay Cameron lost 6-1, 6-2. Scott/Ross lost 5-7, 2-6; Fox/Cameron lost 2-6, 4-6.

12s

Elgin B 12 Gordonstoun 0

Team: Amelie Anderson, Fiona Coull, Jessica Williamson, Eva Thomson

Rothes 0 Elgin A 12

Connor Cameron lost to Drew Murdoch 1-4, 0-4

Antony Lewis lost to Millie Ralph 1-4, 1-4

Izaak Symon lost to Donald Coull 0-4, 0-4

Riley Stewart lost to Borys Sulkowski 2-4, 0-4.

Cameron/Lewis lost to Murdoch/Ralph 1-4, 1-4

Symon/Stewart lost to Coull/Sulkowski 1-4, 1-4


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