FIVE knockout tournaments have been played at Penallt over the last two weekends.

The ladies’ and men’s doubles were played on the first weekend in perfect tennis weather.

In the men’s doubles there were two close semi-finals. Mark Thornycroft and Paul Hazlewood had a very close match against Kevin Brook and Sean Delahoy finally winning 3-6 7-6 7-5.

Dave Guppy and Rob Prewett beat Peter Howe and Josh Griffiths in the other semi-final 6-1 4-6 6-2. The final produced many fast rallies with Rob and Dave winning in two straight sets.

The ladies’ doubles didn’t produce any three-set matches but there was a two-hour semi-final, with Liz Clarke and Karen Rollings finally beating Sally Williams and Rosie Adams 6-4 6-4.

The final was even longer and very nearly went to three sets with Nicky Hutchings and Ginny Higgins winning against Liz and Karen 7-5 7-6.

The ladies’ doubles plate was won by Lynda Thornycroft and Michele Hall who beat Rachel Widdicks and Katie Farrington in the final, an extra birthday present for Lynda.

Despite the forecast and wet starts to both days on the second weekend play was not interrupted and the sun shone through so that it was pleasantly warm for the audience and quite hot enough for the players.

Ten couples entered the mixed and there were a number of closely contested matches. The Thornycrofts had three close matches firstly against the Hollicks then a three set match against Dave and Lexi Guppy. They were beaten in a close semi-final against Rachel and Chris Widdicks. Chris and Rosie Adams also had two close battles firstly against Andrew Rollings and Liz Clarke and then against Chesney Britton and Ginny Higgins before they were beaten in the final by mother and son pair Rachel and Chris Widdicks. The final of the mixed plate was a noisy match between Neil O’Doherty and Rachel Ryder and Andrew Rollings and Liz Clarke with Neil and Rachel winning the title.

The men’s singles suffered from some withdrawals due to injury but despite these it produced some good matches. The final was between Dave Guppy and a somewhat weary Chris Adams with Dave winning in straight sets.

The final of the men’s plate was a very lengthy and exciting match which was much enjoyed by the audience. After two hours Chris Powell-Tuck just managed to beat Charles Boase 7-5 6-7 7-5.

The ladies’ singles was a round robin with Nicky Hutchings winning the cup and Liz Clarke the plate yet again.