THE Tennis Borders Winter League started on Sunday under bright blue skies that would not be out of place in the summer.
For St Boswells Tennis Club, the opening day of the 2013 season brought mixed results, with an away win for the first team and a home defeat for the seconds.
St Boswells I got rid of some early-season rustiness against Duns II, but not before the home side’s men’s double pair of Andrew Watson and Ricky Amos inflicted a match tie-break defeat on the Villagers’ Lewis Armstrong and Adam Drummond.
The Duns pair took a 4-1 lead in the first set thanks to some unerring groundstrokes and crisp passing shots, and then held on despite a spirited comeback from Armstrong and Drummond.
Having established themselves towards the end of the second set, the visiting pair dominated the second, but a couple of unforced errors midway through the match tie-break cost them the rubber. On the adjacent court, Toni Lemmon and Lynn Bruce blew away the cobwebs with a 6-3 6-0 victory over home pair Liz Dixon and Fiona Hodge.
Lemmon then teamed up with Armstrong and took on Dixon and Watson, dropping just five games on their road to victory.
Bruce and Drummond also secured a comfortable win over their opponents with a 6-2 6-2 success.
St Boswells II were on the receiving end of a 3-1 rubber defeat at the hands of Peebles, however.
The home side was made up of Hilary Jackson, Linda Geddes, Matt Tile and Charles Strang.
For more information on the club visit their website on www.stboswellstennisclub.org.uk
z Send your winter tennis league reports to fiona.scott@jpress.co.uk