Grove Tennis ladies winning team

GROVE Tennis ladies have lifted the Essex Junior Cup for the first time since 1990.

After defeating Danbury in the semi-final Debbie Bowes, Ann Squirrell, Sally Humphreys and Julia Westnedge travelled to Billericay to play the final against Kirby.

Both Grove pairings took time to settle into a rhythm, dropping the first set of their respective games, but were able to recover in set two to take their matches into tie breaks.

Bowes and Squirrel were edged out but confident net play from Humphreys ensured she and partner Westnedge got the win they needed to go into the reverse rubbers with the match tied.

The wind and rain made it difficult to hit clean winners but both pairs managed some good exchanges at the net.

Bowes and Squirrel battled hard before losing to Kirby’s number one pair, but some excellent volleying from Humphreys and inconsistent serving from Kirby gave Grove a two set win against the second pair.

With the match all square, Bowes and Westnedge teamed up to play a championship tie break. They took control from the first point as Kirby made some unforced errors and Bowes hit several winners.

After nearly four hours of tennis, Grove converted their first match point, as Kirby netted a service return, to deservedly take the tie-break 10-6.