Helensburgh Tennis Club’s ladies’ second team grabbed all the headlines this week as they recorded a fantastic 9-0 victory at home to Thorn Park.

Jackie Hunter and Alison Fotheringham, at first couple, took the first two sets with ease, 6-2, 6-3, but almost gave away the third at 4-3 down; a long eighth game saw the Burgh pair break serve, but Thorn Park broke back, and at 5-5 Jackie and Alison piled on the pressure to break serve for a second time before wrapping up the set 7-5.

There were also convincing wins for Janette Howieson and Fiona Beveridge at second couple (6-2, 6-0, 6-0) and for Jane Carroll and Barbara Gillies at third couple (6-0, 6-0, 6-1) over their Bearsden opponents.

The Burgh ladies’ 60-plus teams failed to impress, starting their campaigns with defeats away to Kilmacolm and David Lloyd Hamilton for the first and second teams respectively.

Helensburgh’s men’s first team were once again forced to rely on second team players due to injuries, with David McCowan the latest to step up for the tie away to David Lloyd Hamilton, playing alongside Stephen Lewis at third couple; the pair found the pace and consistency of their opponents difficult to handle, though, and went down in straight sets.

On court one Felix Carpenter and Fraser Fulton lost the first two sets of their game 4-6, 4-6, but came back to win the third 6-3.

At second couple, Alan MacBeath and Cameron White took the opening set 7-6 in a tie break; the second was neck-and-beck at 4-4, but a long ninth game with eight deuces ended with the home pair securing a break of serve and going on to win the set.

However, Alan and Cameron didn’t let the disappointment of losing the set affect them and they took the decider 6-3, though it wasn’t enough to prevent an overall 3-6 defeat for the Helensburgh team.

The men’s third team couldn’t keep their winning run of last week going as they fell to a narrow 4-5 defeat away to Woodend.

Paul Clifford and Adam McLean had a marathon match, with both the opening set and the decider going all the way to the tie break.

Paul and Adam led in the first set, but the Woodend pair fought back hard to snatch it at the death, and though the Helensburgh duo took the second set 6-2, there was more nail-biting in the third, with the lead changing hands several times and both teams in front during the course of the tie-break, with Woodends deep cross-court groundstrokes eventually proving the deciding factor.

Nick Goodings and Iain MacLaren lost by two sets to one at second couple, while Matt Mackie and Graham Court continued their recent winning streak with a 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 win at third couple.