THE ladies of Cardross Tennis Club are taking part in the restart of local competitive tennis under the West of Scotland’s ‘Plan B’ league.

This league is a one-off for 2020 with the aim of allowing players some inter-club competition, albeit under a raft of Covid-19 regulations and restrictions.

A selection of first, second and third ladies’ summer teams have combined to form one team with each getting a couple of games.

The competition opened with an away match against Rutherglen, with the Cardross team of Carolyn Turk and Mhairi Stevenson settling in to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Janet Hogg and Gwen Irving also shook off the rust to win a tie break in the first set and then comfortably finish off the match 6-4, 6-2.

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A few days later the team made its way to Kelvingrove where, with a floodlight curfew of 9pm, it was agreed to play two sets, and the third as a 10-point championship tie break.

The Cardross ladies adjusted well to the windy conditions and eased to a four-set lead, but unfortunately lost the two tie breaks.

Caroline McDaid and Catherine Court won 6-3, 6-2 and a few unlucky points here and there saw a 6-10 tie break, while Denise Laverty and Danielle Gordon in second couple mirrored the first couple’s result, winning 6-2, 6-2 and a 7-10 tie break.

The first home match of the campaign saw Whitecraigs venture out of Glasgow to the wilds of Cardross on Monday evening.

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Carolyn Turk and Catherine Court were too strong for their opponents, closing out 6-2, 6-1, 6-0, while second couple Mhairi Stevenson and Sara Sullivan battled well against strong hitting opponents, overturning the loss of the first set to close out the final two strongly for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 win.

Meanwhile, Cardross ‘Plan B’ captain Catherine Court received the West of Scotland Senior Female Player of the Year award for 2019 at the West of Scotland prizegiving back at the tail end of 2019.

Playing in the newly formed ladies’ seniors second team, so starting out in the lowest division, Catherine was able to put together a string of strong performances with her partners for the matches, Gwen Irving, Lisa Fowler and Mhairi Stevenson, and supported the team to win their division.

The award recognises one player in each of the league competitions and from the 19 divisions Catherine had met the following criteria: played in all matches; won all matches; and have a better set and game percentages than any other player in the competition.

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