Newry Tennis Club

In the ladies doubles semis,  Derval and Marie beat Dorothy and Shauna in a closely contested match. Shauna, probably the most improved player in the club impressed. Dorothy whilst consistent was unable to get the big forehand going when she needed to win this one. Irene and Denise won a thriller against Pauline and Sarah winning 10-8 in a Champions tiebreak in the third. It was brilliant to get a photo of 9 of the regular women players at the club.

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Shane suffered a rare defeat on these courts when he and newbie James P went down to Daniel and James O'Hare. Big feature here was the tactics as the opposing team restricted the movement of Shane which proved crucial. Giby and Gary Smith came through against Alex and Rory. Giby's excellent volleying made the difference. Kieran and Shane R edged out Cormac and Brian O'H in one of the best matches of the tournament so far. After a 62 first set Cormac showed great movement at the net whilst Brian hit his high topspin to optimum effect as they won 6 games in a row. But it was a different story in the third as they started inconsistently and Kieran pounced for a 4-0 lead. It got very tense at the end but Kieran and Shane held on 64. 

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There were 3 Men's doubles matches on tues night. John and Tommy were no match for Alex and Rory. Nigel and Conor did not manage to win a game in first set against Mal P and Michael R. At 5-1 down in the second all looked lost but Nigel at that point found his form and they came all the way back to a tiebreak. But Mal and Michael won the important points to clinch it in two. Malachy G and Michael won a tight tiebreak against Neil and Pat before moving away by forcing the pace in the second.