Monday 9th November saw Cambridge (represented by Alex Evans and Peter Paterson) go up against Leamington (Zak Eadle and Nino Merola). First on court Alex (14.1) took on Zak (13.8) in what look set to be a very close encounter, and thus it proved to be. With both players at times struggling to keep consistent length on their shots but showing impressive retrieval skills, long punishing rallies were frequent during the 1h49min match. Zak edged the first set 6-5 with some decisive deuce game wins, finding the grill and winning gallery at the critical moments. The second set saw a fight back from Alex who took the set 6-3. Inevitably the final set wound up being decided on a single game at 5-5. Ultimately Zak’s aggressive approach paid off and Leamington took a 1-0 lead in the fixture.

Next into the breach came Cambridge professional Peter Paterson (16.6) who would be facing soon to be Washington assistant pro Nino Merola (21.3). Peter started the match very well, with consistent clean hitting and his characteristic forcing game. Nino could find few answers in the first set as Peter took it to love. Nino staged a mini fightback at the beginning of the second set and managed to square the set at 3 games each. However this proved to be a temporary change to the flow of the game as Peter regained his superb form to take the next 3 games, and the match, in a flash.

And so the bragging rights would be decided by the outcome of the doubles. The Cambridge pair made their combined handicap advantage count, offering few areas for the Leamington pair to attack. The 8 game set won by the Cambridge pair 8-3 and with it the fixture 2-1.

The members of Leamington club were very welcoming and were a respectful (if biased) audience throughout the fixture and made the event very enjoyable.

Anyone wishing to view video recordings of the Leamington match should go to:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ8NxrUQiVdJq9QqmcjzMDA