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Findhorn and Lossiemouth continue strong start to Galbraith Highlands tennis league while Elgin men blast away Forres


By Ali Morrison



Moray's tennis clubs had a busy week in the Galbraith Highlands leagues, writes Hamish McBain.

Crystal Fraser-MacKenzie was in action for Elgin 12 and under.
Crystal Fraser-MacKenzie was in action for Elgin 12 and under.

Monday’s Mixed First Division matches included the Duff Avenue derby as Elgin's second string sought to dent the A team's title hopes.

They came mighty close to doing just that, as the final scoreline of 6-2 suggests a comfortable victory for the A’s but, dig deeper and a different story unfolds.

Only one rubber (2v2) finished in the ‘comfortable’ bracket, a 6-0, 6-3 triumph for Dave McPherson and Jasmin Walker over Adam Macleod and Teresa Tait.

Apart from the win for Ross Jagger and June Buchan over McPherson and Walker, the B side did have chances to draw level or even snatch an unexpected win.

In the 1v1 contest, Jagger and Buchan took Stuart Thomson and Walker to a first set tiebreak in which they had several opportunities to go one up. But it wasn’t to be.

The second set was also very competitive and as serves were held, it looked as though another breaker would be needed to decide the outcome – either a 2-0 win or a match tie-break.

However, the A team broke the Jagger serve at 4-4 and held their own to secure a hard fought win.

Thomson and Walker then had a similarly tight contest against Macleod and Tait. No tie-break was required but the latter performed well.

Elsewhere, the men’s A team totally outperformed Forres A, dropping only five games in the process.

The result sets up the side’s next outing, at home to a very strong, and undefeated, Bellfield Park which should be a real humdinger.

Findhorn recorded their second win in their return to competing in the Moray mixed league.

Following a 7-0 win over Lossiemouth, the team saw off the challenge from Rothes B with a fine 5-2 scoreline.

A very tightly contested 1v1 rubber took so long to complete that the time limit was reached without both second-round contests being completed.

Forres women’s A team fought their way to a 7-3 win over Elgin B.

It was a very evenly contested affair with the team’s second seeds, Janette Ker and Joanne Lang, being involved in two match tie-breaks.

They won the first by the slimmest of margins (10-8) and lost the other with the visitors eventually going past the winning post at 13-11.

The first pair, Pauline Brown and Sarah Henbrey, were pushed all the way playing three 7-5 sets.

Elsewhere the week was not so rosy. The women’s B, men’s A and mixed B teams were all beaten by the maximum margin of eight sets to love.

The junior teams did not fare well either with the 14s losing out to Bellfield Park B and the 12s going down at Elgin. The clubs 9s team scored an impressive 18-3 victory at Rothes.

Lossiemouth men’s team lead the way in Division 2 with nine points from their three outings.

They are level on points with Kingussie but the sets won to sets played ratio puts Lossie on top.

It is a bit early in the season to say they will be playing in the first division in 2023 but for sure, Lossie will be in the mix, fighting to take the promotion place.

The quartet travelled the few miles to Gordonstoun and returned home having whitewashed the school side.

The ladies notched up their first three pointer with a home victory over Rothiemurchus & Aviemore (R&A) D

The past week saw Rothes win four matches to two loss (one at Findhorn).

The women’s campaign has got off to a great start: three weeks in and they are undefeated, standing proudly on the top spot in Division 3, for the moment at least.

The two men’s teams came out on top in their latest fixtures, winning big in both matches against Grantown B and Tain.

On Monday evening the mixed A side got back on winning ways after the team’s loss at Tain, defeating Elgin C 8-0.

Results

Women

Division 1:

Elgin A 4 R&A A 3

Division 2:

Elgin C 2 Kingussie 7

Lisa Nairn & Jenny Milne lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-10; lost 2-6, 1-6. Joan Flett & Millie ralph unfinished 4-6, 2-5; lost 6-4, 0-6, 3-10.

Forres A 7 Elgin B 3

Pauline Brown & Sarah Henbrey beat Angela McWilliam & Teresa Tait 6-3, 7-5; beat Isla Dickinson & Jane Sim 7-5, 7-5;. Janette Ker & Joanne Lang won 6-3, 6-7, 10-8; lost 2-6, 6-4, 11-13

Division 3, Moray & Strathspey:

Grantown B 8 ForresB 0

Nikki Dean 7 Jacqueline Walker lost 3-6, 0-6; lost 2-6, 2-6. Paula Phillips & Annerle Douglas lost 4-6, 4-6; 5-7, 2-6.

Lossiemouth 5 R&A D 3

Claire Jackson & Carol Lennon lost 2-6, 7-5, 7-10; won 6-3, 6-3. Johanbna Fraser Mackenzie & Laura Kelly won 6-4, 6-2; won 6-3, 6-3.

Rothes 5 Gordonstoun 1

Johanne Dunn & Maureen Turner beat Johanna Zinger& Nadya Baric 6-0, 6-0; beat Viktoria Schlangenotto & Sophia Aykroyd 6-2, unfinished. Marjory Stronach & Martina Munro won 6-0, 6-7, 10-4; unfinished 5-3.

Men

Division 1

Elgin B 7 Grantown A 3

Adam McLeod & Ross Jagger won 6-1, 6-2; won 6-3, 6-2. Mitchell McGrath & Stuart Thomson lost 1-6, 6-2, 8-10.

Forres A 0 Elgin A 8

Steve Barker & Eric Janousek lost to Keith Meisner & Richard Wormald 1-6, 2-6; lost to Henry Archibald & Tom Elwick 0-6, 0-6. Gavin Ross & Ian Tregellas lost 1-6, 1-6; lost 0-6, 0-6.

Division 2

Gordonstoun 0 Lossiemouth 8

Leo Hansmann & Johannes Pohl lost to Tim Dickinson & Darren Main 3-6, 2-6; lost to Ed Borrowman & James Gresswell 4-6, 3-6. Johannes Timm & Luca Moretti lost 2-6, 1-6; lost 1-6, 1-6.

Kingussie 5 Elgin C 3

Iain Cameron & Jim Meisner lost 1-6, 2-6; lost 0-6, 6-1, 7-10. Ewen Fraser & Lewis Simpson 7-5 unfinished; won 3-6, 2-6.

Division 3

Grantown B 0 Rothes A 8

Gary Logan & Jack McConnachie won 6-0, 6-0; won 6-2, 6-2. Sam Anderson & Will Masson won 6-0, 6-1; won 6-2, 7-6.

Rothes A 8 Tain 1

Bradley & Fraser Scott won 6-4, 6-2; won 6-1, 6-3. Liam Anderson & Mark Hearns won 0-6, 7-6, 10-4; won 6-3, 6-3

Mixed

Division 1

Elgin A 6 Elgin B 2

Stuart Thomson &Sally Walker beat Ross Jagger & June Buchan 7-6, 6-4; beat Adam Macleod & Teresa Tait 6-4, 7-5. Dave McPherson & Jasmin Taylor lost 4-6, 5-7; won 6-0, 6-3.

Division 2

Rothes A 8 Elgin C 0

Michelle Fraser & Peter Scott beat Lisa & Blair Nairn 6-0, 6-2; beat Isla Dickinson & Grant Higgins 6-2, 6-2. Maureen Turner & Bradley Scott won 6-4, 6-3; won 6-1, 6-4

Division 3

Findhorn 5 Rothes B 2

Jai Hutton & Ros Wright beat Gary Logan & Johanne Dunn 6-4, 2-6, 10-8; unfinished v Eoin Robertson & Jane Sim 6-4, 4-3. Isaak Hutton & Sylvia Black unfinished 3-6, 4-3; won 6-1, 7-5.

Junior

14 & Under

Division 1

Forres 2 Bellfield Park B 10

Matthew Davies lost 0-6, 3-6; Sophie Howard lost 2-6, 0-6; Adam Rhind 1-6, 1-6; Borys Sulkowski won 6-2, 6-2. Davies & Rhind lost 0-6, 0-6; Howard & Sulkowski lost 1-6, 2-6.

Rothes A 0 Bellfield Park A 12

Hamish Scott lost 1-6, 2-6; Ben Ross lost 0-6, 1-6; Alfie McConnachie lost 4-6, 2-6; Zach Burns lost 0-6, 1-6.

Scott & Ross lost 0-6, 1-6; McConnachie & Burns lost 1-6, 2-6.

12 & Under

Bellfield Park 9 Elgin A 5

Drew Murdoch lost 0-4, 0-4; Zofia Andrasovska won 4-2, 4-1; Connie Simpson lost 3-5, 1-4, 7-10; Leo Dixon lost 0-4.

Murdoch & Andrasovska lost 0-4, 1-4; Connie & Leo lost 4-2, 1-4, 2-10

Elgin B 10 Forres 3

Ellie Hommel lost to Borys Sulkowski 2-4, 2-4; Isla Johnston beat unknown player 4-1, 4-1; Rose Christie beat Jonathan Herbert 4-2, 4-0; Crystal Fraser-Mackenzie beat unknown player 4-1, 5-4.

Hommel & Johnston beat Sulkowski & partner 4-1, 4-5, 11-9; Christie & Fraser-Mackenzie beat Herbert & partner 4-0, 4-2.

Mini

9 & Under

Rothes 3 Forres 18

Ruairidh Scott lost to Samuel Herbert 10-9, 6-10, 5-10; lost to Malakai Kriss-Browne 4-10, 1-10. Charlie Duckers lost 4-6, 1-6; lost 3-10, 1-10.

Scott & Duckers lost to Herbert & Kriss-Browne 2-10, 5-10

Emily Shand lost to Finn Carruthers 5-10, 7-10; lost to Duncan 7-10, 9-10. Emily Bruce lost 2-10, 7-10; won 10-7, 10-9.

Shand & Bruce lost to Duncan & Carruthers 8-10, 6-10.


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