SOUTH Bendigo broke Epsom’s winning run in Friday night’s hard-fought clash between the Bendigo Tennis Association’s premier league rivals.
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The Epsom line-up was chasing a sixth consecutive victory, but it was South Bendigo which took the points in the ninth round of the Quest Bendigo Central-backed competition.
The hosts started brilliantly on South Bendigo’s courts in Flora Hill as Jordan Hicks defeated Jono Guy, 6-7 6-3 11-9, and Grant Leader outplayed Travis Johnston, 6-2 0-6 10-6.
Epsom hit back as Ben Bailey defeated Brett Mulgrew, 6-1 6-3, but South held sway after Peter Somerville’s 7-6 6-4 win against Heather Robbins.
Hicks and Leader joined forces to beat Guy and Johnston, 6-1 6-3.
Bailey and Robbins played superb tennis in a 6-3 6-3 win against Somerville and Mulgrew. South Bendigo won 50-8-4 to 56-6-2.
The form of Bendigo Lawn Rising lifted sharply in a stunning victory against Strathfieldsaye.
Playing on home courts at Bendigo Lawn Tennis Club in Barnard Street, Rising scored a 14-game victory.
Highs included wins in the singles by Michael Jude, Dom Barton and Rashelle Blencowe.
Strathfieldsaye’s Nick Bath started the night by fighting back from a 6-2 loss in the opening set to beat Lachlan Hewitt 7-5 10-6.
The doubles were split. Hewitt and Jude lost to Bath and Tova Penno, 3-6 5-7, but Barton and Blencowe teamed up to beat Baxter Symons and Michael Nihill, 6-2 5-7 10-7.
After the final rally, Rising led 65-9-4 to 51-5-2.
The ladder-leading Spring Gully Butterflies thrashed Bendigo Lawn Quest at the Spring Gully courts.
Butterflies won five of the six rubbers.
A highlight for Quest was the 6-2 6-2 victory achieved by Bradley Reeves against the in-form Lachlan Perdon.
Gully’s wins in the singles included a 6-4 6-4 result for Rob Gallagher against Marcus McDougal.
The clash between Bronwyn Osborn and Quest’s Brianna Smith went to a tie-breaker.
Smith won the opening set, 6-4, but Osborn fought back to level the contest after a 6-2 victory in set two. The tie-breaker went 10-4 to Osborn.
Gallagher and Osborn teamed up for a 6-2 6-2 win against McDougal and Smith. Butterflies won 62-10-5 to 32-3-1 and lead the ladder from Epsom and Strathfieldsaye.
