HELENSBURGH Tennis Club's men's first team fell to a 6-3 defeat at home to Strathgryffe in their opening match of the season following promotion to the West of Scotland League's first division.

At first couple for Helensburgh, Alan MacBeath (pictured) and Ciaran Losh got off to a nervious start, losing the opening set 6-1.

But the Burgh pair soon recovered their composure, and the second set was neck-and-neck, with all four players holding serve until Alan and Ciaran managed to break the visitors to win it 7-5.

The deciding set was a similar story, but this time went to a tie-break with the pairs tied a six games apiece - and though the Helensburgh duo fell behind with a couple of forced errors, they soon got their act together and twice broke the visitors' serve to win the set 7-6.

At second couple, David Reid and Felix Carpenter also lost their opening set, in their case 6-2, but like Alan and Ciaran, they roared back in the second set, winning it also by 6-2.

The deciding set, again,went all the way to a tie-break - which went with serve until a volley from the home pair at 5-6 down landed just outside the tramline and gave the  visitors a match point which they duly took.

The third Helensburgh couple, Stephen Lewis and Kevin Stephen, found themselves up against a tough Strathgryffe pair, though their 3-0 sets defeat was much closer than the score suggests.