Tennis: Livilands gents suffer first defeat

Jun 20 2012 by Jean Pedder, Stirling Observer Wednesday

LIVILANDS men suffered their first defeat of the season on Thursday, going down 10-2 to a strong Bridge of Allan side.

Colin Mathewson and Graham Melville lost a tough opening match against J Paterson and R Price 3-6, 3-6. Fraser Stirling and Kenny Bowie pushed A Brown and K Wood to a tie-break but lost it and were then beaten 6-2 in the second set.

Pete Kelly and Jim Duchart never got going in losing 6-2, 6-0 to J MacDonald and R Fraser.

With the visitors already 6-0 ahead, the result was in little doubt but Mathewson and Melville eat Fraser and MacDonald 6-3 while Stirling and Bowie beat the same pair 6-1 to record Livilands’ only two points of the night.

In Ladies Division 1 Livilands went down 5-7 at home to Falkirk, despite four wins out of four for Anne Coyne and Lindsay Brooks, to leave the team in third place.

In Division 3 there was a clash between Livilands second and third teams, with the seconds coming out on top by 8-4. Diane Gladstone and Nuala Hutchinson won three sets, as did Senga Meldrum and Val Wilson. Gill Bowers and Laura Kelly top-scored for the thirds, also winning three out of four sets.

There was further disappointment for Livilands in the semi-finals of the Gillespie Mixed Doubles Cup after a tie-break shoot-out defeat from Linlithgow.

Graham Melville and Lindsay Brooks beat C Bird and L Thompson while Kenny Bowie and Carol Davidson beat the same pair to leave the match tied at 2-2. Graham and Carol then teamed up for the deciding tie-break, which was won 12-10 by C Stevens and L Thompson for Linlithgow, who will play Falkirk in the final.