Tennis: IoM 45+ county side take win in final outing of season

Squad play final two fixtures of latest campaign in UK

The Isle of Man's 45-and-over county men's county tennis squad have rounded off their season with some positive results in the last week.

The squad of captain, Neil Ronan, Rob Mason, Nerijus Gricevicius and Jos Woolford faced their final two matches of the campaign against Derbyshire and Lincolnshire across two days of competition.

First up was the tie with Derbyshire on outdoor courts at Duffield Tennis Club with Woolford taking a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win whilst Gricevicius narrowly missed out on his first 45+ singles victory, losing on a champion's tie-break 7-6, 6-7, 7-10 in a match lasting nearly three hours.

In the doubles, two wins for the pairing of Mason & Ronan secured the county win - Woolford & Gricevicius then suffered narrow defeat but it didn't stop the Isle of Man taking the 3-2 victory overall.

Next was a tough tie against the in-form Lincolnshire - Gricevicius got the Island off to a dream start taking his first 45+ singles win 6-3, 6-4 before a difficult game for Woolford saw him lose out afterwards.

In the doubles, Mason & Ronan battled for over two-and-a-half hours against their opposition before narrowly missing out on a high-scoring tie-break 7-5, 6-7, 10-12.

A further loss for the duo as well as for Woolford & Gricevicius meant Lincolnshire would win the contest as a whole 4-1 and secure promotion to Division 2b.