The Isle of Man men’s county tennis team competed in division six of the annual Winter County Cup at Nuffield Health Centre in Hull the weekend before last. On the first day the islanders went up against a tough side in Oxfordshire. While they battled hard, Oxfordshire proved too strong and won the tie 8-1, with the team’s only win coming from Orry Farnworth as he battled through a gruelling three-setter 5/7 6/3 6/3 in two and a half hours.
Some notable performances on the day came from Chris Mash and Adam Pyatt-Coppell fighting well in a close 7/5 6/3 loss, and Farnworth and Sean Drewry pushing a world-ranked opponent in Alexis Canter in the doubles 6/4 7/5. The second day saw the Isle of Man take on Northumberland, with the team getting stuck in with plenty of passion on show. After the six singles matches each team had notched up three wins apiece, the Isle of Man’s victories coming from Drewry, Farnworth and Pyatt-Coppell 6/4 7/5, 6/4 6/2 and 6/2 6/3 respectively.
This meant the island team needed two out of the three doubles rubbers to take the victory. First up was Pyatt-Coppell and Nerijus Gricevicius who fought back from a set down to take it to a third set which was settled by a 10-point match tie-break in the doubles. A nail-biter ensued where little could separate the pairs but, with some clutch serving and a passionate bench behind them, the Isle of Man team took the tie-break 14-12 in dramatic fashion.
Northumberland pegged the Manx side back with a 6/1 6/3.
