THE WILDMOOR Tennis League moved into week six with Stratford A holding an impressive five-point gap at the top of the Premier Division – maintaining their 100 per cent record by beating Chipping Campden A 4-0.
Alcester A moved up to second place by defeating Redditch A 4-0 and joint third are Alcester B and Chipping Campden A, with Ardencote fifth. Henley A remain sixth, leaving Pershore A and Redditch A as the bottom two.
Stratford pair Callum Bailey and Cameron Malik beat Campden’s Martin Ledbury and Ali Johnson 6-1, 6-3 in the first rubber and then beat Tom Partridge and Geoff Vaughan 6-2, 6-1. Stratford’s second pair Peter Uys-Barnard and Simon West had a tougher time before beating Partridge and Vaughan 7-6, 6-4 and then Ledbury and Johnson 7-6, 6-2.
Alcester A moved up to second when their pairing of Charlie Watson and Alex Woodbridge beat Redditch A’s James McDonald and Eric Portman 6-2, 6-0 and then beat Lubl Somoliar and Terry Iduitua 6-3, 6-1.
Alcester’s other pair Stuart Beach and Tim Keneally beat McDonald and Portman 6-1, 6-1 and Somoliar and Iduitua 6-4, 6-3.
A 2-2 draw was just enough to keep Alcester B in third place, which they now share with Campden. Alcester’s Marcus Powell and Alex Woodbridge beat Ardencore A’s Hardy Christian and Pete Thomas 6-2, 6-3 and then beat Ben Summers and John Brain 6-3, 6-3.
In the other rubbers, Alcester’s Matt Fielding and Barney Williams lost to Christian and Thomas 2-6, 6-1, 0-1 and lost to Summers and Brain 4-6, 6-1, 0-1.
Henley A beat Pershore A 3-1 as Henley’s Max Retallack and Neil Supperstone lost to Pershore’s John Guppy and Steve Bauer 6-7, 6-7 and then defeated Dave Morris and Martin Sime 6-1, 6-0.
Henley pairing Tom Griffiths and Oli Didlick sealed the win by beating Guppy and Bauer 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 and Morris and Sime 6-2, 6-2.
In Division One, Littleton A opened a three-point gap at the top after their second successive 4-0 win, this time against Moreton A.
Evesham A remain second after sharing the points 2-2 with Studley A. Despite their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Alcester C, Stratford B remain third and Ardencote beat Inkberrow A 4-0 to join three other teams all on nine points, leaving Inkberrow A bottom.
Division Two has a new leader in Claverdon A who beat FISSC 4-0, helped by FISSC only fielding one pair.
Snitterfield A’s 3-1 win against Inkberrow B moved them into joint second place with Shipston A who beat Claverdon B 4-0. Chipping Campden B beat Henley B 3-1.
Division Three is really close at the top with three teams all on 15 points. Studley B are the new leaders based on games won/lost thanks to their 3-1 win over Redditch B.
Second are Pershore B who drew 2-2 with Bidford A and Warwick are third after their 4-0 victory over Inkberrow C.
Snitterfield B beat Redditch C 4-0, leaving Redditch firmly rooted to the foot of the table with no points.
Division Four joint leaders Shipston B and Evesham B both enjoyed 3-1 wins – Shipston at home to Chipping Campden C and Evesham away to Bidford B.
Previous leaders Wildmoor Spa A dropped to third after losing 4-0 at Tysoe which lifted Tysoe out of the bottom two. Claverdon C beat Aston Cantlow 3-1.
Stratford C stretched their Division Five lead to three points by beating Wildmoor Spa B 3-1, whilst Moreton B moved up to second with a good 4-0 win against Warwickshire CC who dropped to third.
Moreton C lost 3-1 to Henley C which at least gave Moreton the consolation of winning their first rubber of the season.