TENNIS

THE Woodford Wells Club won the South West Essex Winter Tennis Cup competition on their own courts on Sunday.

They beat cup holders Connaught in a closely-fought match to reverse the result from last year.

At one stage the home club were a match down and in the remaining two doubles events were a set down.

Both men's pairs managed to grind out three set wins.

In the top match, the Wells pair of Richard Harvey and Patrick Frieg defeated Adam Olbrich and Robert Slack.

Former Essex senior county player Harvey and current Chigwell School German student Frieg started slowly losing the first set 6-3.

However, Harvey started to return serve with pace and consistency, while Frieg began to control the net.

The Wells players eventually won comfortably, winning the second and third sets 6-0, 6-2.

Meanwhile, the Sidoli sisters, playing for Woodford Wells, lost to Caroline Varda and Carole Halliwell in straight sets.

The two Wells youngsters, who are both at Trinity School, played a spirited game but were unable to contain their experienced opponents.

The match rested on the outcome of the final match, which featured Wells team captain Mark Bragoli and club coach Paul Kitto against Steve Reynolds and Nimrod Perel.

The Wells players were a service break down in the final set but held their nerve to just edged out their opponents 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

The trophy was presented to Woodford by league secretary Jill Leiper.