On a cold, overcast Sunday morning, we arrived in time to have a short knock-up before the match.  The first round saw Emily and Susan pitted against a very useful second pair.  It was a slow start, with the opposition getting an early lead.  Undaunted, Emily and Susan steadily pulled back to take the first set 6-3.  Second set looked good - 5-1 up, then the inevitable - they came back!!!  However, we managed to win 6-4 - so 1 game won!  Janet and Julie were up against a very solid pairing, who had played together for 4 years.  This was Janet and Julie's first match together!!! The odds were heavily stacked - and New Malden won that round.  So - 1-all at 'half-time'.

 

Janet and Julie faired better against the second pair and gave them more of a run around.  However, the New Malden pair proved too strong and won the game in 2 sets. 

 

Emily and Susan must have decided this was going to be their work-out day!!!  Emily developed a penchant for the boundary bushes (which were VERY close!), and kept running into them (I think she was really chasing down the very accurate cross-court balls!!!).  First set didn't go so well - if they were at the net - the opposition lobbed, if they were at the back,  fantastic court angles were achieved (hence all the running!). There were no easy points!  So first set to new Malden!  Second set was a different story - Emily and Susan worked out how to play them and won 6-1.  So to the tie-break.  It was a shame it had to be a championship tie-break, as Em and Sue got to 7 with only 1 for the opponents!!!  Then the comeback - up to 7-5 before gaining another vital point. They then traded a point apiece until a beauty of a net cord in our favour raised the score to 9-7.  Emily served out for the tie-break at 10-7!!!

 

So - a great result in a draw - a significant improvement on our last result at home last summer.

 

Well done to all the team to get to an important draw.