It was a a rather grey, uninspiring day on Sunday 15 June when Wigmore hosted Norbury Park at home but it was enlivened by the first three matches on Court – all of which proved mighty close with the chips all just falling Norbury’s way.

Nip and Tuck!

Ann Boucnik [W] cycled onto the premises and proceeded to scoot right through the first set of the Ladies Vets only for Carole Watson [NP] to retaliate in kind and stay a few steps ahead throughout the ensuing champions tiebreak.

The Ladies Open singles saw a contrast in styles and demeanour as the expressive Siobhan Thompson [NP] just about fended off the serene and silent Linda Fletcher [W].

The beauty of Siobhan’s matches is that you don’t actually need to watch them to keep score: A bullish bellow – 15 love; anguished moan of regret – 15 all; “Come Onnn!” – 30-15……you get the picture!

Some of this thunderous self-reproach seemed to spread over to Court One where Norbury newcomer Tom Brown managed to chide himself to the narrowest of wins over Wigmore’s Dan Taylor.

Dan caught the eye with his little gladiatorial salute whenever he hit a good winner (and there were plenty of those) but Tom eventually survived three match points to win 11-9 in the champions tiebreak.

Wigmore come back

The next set of matches were a little more straightforward: a walk-over to Wigmore in the Girls;  a grinding, arm-wrestling, but clear cut victory for Marek Strzelichowski [NP] over Mark Johnson [W] in the Mens Vets; and a calm and classy triumph for Max Hamill [W] over Chad Nguyen [NP] in a high quality Boys tussle.

The Mens Doubles took an age to finish and the scoreline pays scant justice to some heroic defending by the Wigmore Pair who matched their opponents pint for pint afterwards in the bar (particularly unusual for Norbury not to win THOSE encounters!!).

Norbury win

Lisa Patient [NP] played maybe her best MC match to date to help grab a valuable point in a well contested Ladies Doubles against Alex McAdam-Clark and Ann Boucnik [W], doubling up after the Vets.

Undeterred, Alex regrouped and played a blinder in the Mixed where she and partner Adam Tyson [W] just eclipsed Annemarie O’Hara and Dan Lockeretz [NP] in yet another  pleasing encounter.

This precious point, I believe, secured Wigmore’s place in the Final….so congratulations to Alex and her team.

Report by Nigel Flay, Norbuy Park

Footnote: Norbury Park meets Woodfield Grove on 22 June and stands a chance of overtaking Grafton’s 18 points for third place and even Telford Park’s 20 points to make the final.

Results

(Norbury Park players first)

Women’s Singles: Siobhan Thompson d Linda Fletcher 7-5 6-4; Men’s Singles: Tom Brown d Dan Taylor 4-6 7-5 [11-9]; Women’s Over 45 Singles: Carole Watson d Ann Boucnik 2-6 6-1 [10-5]; Men’s Over 40 Singles: Marek Strzelichowski d Mark Johnson 6-1 6-2; Girls Under 16 Singles: Walk-over to Wigmore; Boys Under 16 Singles: Chad Nguyen lost to Max Hamill 6-3 6-3; Women’s Doubles: Lisa Patient & Siobhan Thompson d Alex McAdam-Clark & Ann Boucnik 7-5 6-2; Men’s Doubles: Duy Nguyen & Matt Gordon beat Mark Hodson & Yuri Meneghelli 6-1 6-2; Mixed Doubles: Dan Lockeretz & Annemarie O’Hara lost to Adam Tyson & Alex McAdam-Clark 7-5 6-4.