Hunte and Cudd help hosts increase lead at top of table

HENLEY 1sts remain comfortably top of the Berkshire Dunlop Winter League Division 6 table following their away win at Bradfield on Sunday.

First pair David Hunte and James Cudd set the standard with a confident and controlled display, winning
6-2, 6-2, before backing it up with an emphatic 6-3, 6-0 victory against the second pair.

Second pair Matt Hallam and Mike Worrell dealt efficiently with the Bradfield second pair, winning 6-2, 6-2. Against the first pair, after a tight opening 6-4 loss, they took the second 7-5, pushing the match all the way to a deciding championship tie-break where they were narrowly edged out.

In Division 7, Henley 2nds went down to a 5-4 defeat against Royal Ascot on a match played out on the club’s new artificial clay courts.

The match was finely balanced throughout and finished level at two rubbers apiece. Under league rules, points are then decided on sets won, with Royal Ascot edging the count 5-4. This meant two points for the visitors and one for Henley.

In the Oxfordshire Dunlop Winter League, Henley A lost out 5-3 to North Oxford B on Saturday in a match played out in sub-zero conditions.

With the club’s hard courts frozen, play was switched to the newly installed artificial clay courts, allowing the fixture to go ahead as planned. The match proved to be a closely contested affair, with both sides trading momentum throughout. A key moment came in the second rubber, where Henley’s pairing of Mike Worrell and Matt Hallam were narrowly edged out in two tight sets, losing 7-5 and 7-6.