Week 7

Women's First Team (Div 1), captain: Suzie Provan

A brilliant and crucial win against Thistle for the 1sts the week, giving us a chance to still win the league. It puts us top of the table as we are on equal points with them, but have a higher set %. We need to keep pushing in the final three matches to keep the % up in the event both teams do indeed end on the same number of points. Also great to beat them on their home turf after they did the same to us in week two of the season. A great result all round - well done, team! Well worth finishing at 10.20pm for! ;-)

Women's Second Team (Div 2), captain: Janine Frew

Braid 2 played at home on a glorious evening against Meadows 1st team. This was a tough game as Meadows were fielding a more youthful team. The matches were very close but Braid fought well and won 8-7.

Women's Third Team (Div 3A), captain: Amy Allen

A beautiful evening for tennis where we were hoping to replicate the excitement of Roland Garros as we hosted Barnton Park 2s at Braid.With Rachel back from Uni, and Lisa and Andrea available only to play for us this week we were strong heading into the tie.

Amy and Andrea paired at first pair, winning against their opposite numbers in a game that took concentration against a pair with different styles. Lisa and Eileen paired up at 2nd for the first time this season and saw off their 2nd couple quickly. Diana and Rachel at 3rd pair played some lovely tennis, having not played together before and also saw off BPs 3s.

We went into the 2nd round 6-0 up and with a nice bright evening. The second round also finished with 3 wins, with Rachel and Diana changing up their game well to hold out in a MTB 3rd set against the 2nd couple to bring home a 12-1 win. We celebrated with cheese and chat in the clubhouse.

We remain 2nd in the table at the end of week 7.

Women's Fourth Team (Div 5B), captain Mhairi Reid

We were away to Grange Dyvours 2 this week. Our home match had gone to Grange (7-6) so the team were ready to even things up. Jacqui and I secured two sets against the first couple and Kerry and Amanda came through their round strongly with a win in the second set tie break giving us four sets going into the next round. Evelyn and Alison had a close match against the third couple narrowly missing out on a win 6-7, 4-6. In the second round, a win in the third set tie break from Kerry and Amanda took us to an 8-5 victory. A great result to take us on to our next match at home match against Murrayfield.

DUNLOP EAST OF SCOTLAND MEN’S LEAGUE 2023 (Week 7)

Men’s First Team (Division 2)

The men’s 1st team had a successful trip away to Hatton, winning a close match 9-6. The team was Alex Lesiuk, Joe Edmunds, Jimmy Wood, Callum Caves, Tom Johnston & Louis Duthie Gray. With another win, Braid remains top of division 2 with 3 weeks left to play.

Men’s Second Team (Division 3)

It was another tough evening for the men’s 2nd team. We were hosting top of the table Thistle 2s, who are yet to lose a match. Adrian Moir and David Rigterink came close to a win, eventually losing to their first couple in a championship tiebreak. The same couple went on to beat the Thistle third couple. After a slow start, Max Chen and Ewan McMillin also took the Thistle first couple to a championship tiebreak. Finally, thanks to Eugene and Peter Thomson for stepping up to play in this difficult tie.  The 2nd team are still looking for the elusive first win. This week they are away to Grange Dyvours. 

Men’s Third Team (Division 6A)

The men’s 3rd team played a tense, exciting match in front of a handful of vocal supporters and prevailed 9-7 at home against Barnton 3. Given the league standings ahead of the tie, with Braid in second, a point ahead of Barnton, there was a lot at stake - the result essentially came down to a couple of super-tiebreaks. We were able to put out a strong team: John/Graham; Gilberto/Mathias; Roger/Pete Traynor. The tie was thankfully mostly played in a good spirit, considering the tense nature of the corresponding away fixture.

Men’s Fourth Team (Division 9A)

The men’s 4th team had no match this week

Week 6

Women's First Team (Div 1), captain: Suzie Provan

Our return leg to Hatton saw us win 10-2 this week with particularly strong wins from Emily and Heather at 2, losing only three games. Lisa and Juliet pulled out a good 7-5 6-4 win against their opposing pair, and were unlucky in their second match against a strong 1st pair, going down 3-6 3-6. 

Women's Second Team (Div 2), captain: Janine Frew

The first of the return matches this week against Barnton Park, the only loss of the first half of the season. With Janine away, Amy took over as captain this week. Barnton Park were strong again with a team who seemed able to return every ball. The first round saw Alice and Marianna lose in a close 3rd set MTB to the 1st pair whilst Sophie and Lorraine had a similar fate to the mother/daughter second pair. Amy and Maki had a battle against the 3rd couple losing narrowly to make us 6-2 down after the first round. Positive we could turn things round in the second round, Alice and Marianna and Sophie and Lorraine both came out victorious in 2 sets to set up a nail biting finale. In a game that seemed to last all night (pretty much did, finishing after 10pm!) Maki and Amy came back from 5-2 down in the 2nd set to lose 7-5. Some great patient tennis by all but unfortunately the same 8-6 loss as the first game of the season.

Women's Third Team (Div 3A), captain: Amy Allen

Back to the start for the second half of the season and the 3s welcomed Merchiston to Braid.  A tough evening with some very close tennis. Lisa and Andrea took on a long-standing and well experienced 1st couple for Merchiston and couldn’t get the better of them. Diana, returning from an injury and travel joined Eileen as 2nd couple to secure a convincing win. Viv, recently back from a transatlantic flight made it to the courts and took on the 3rd pair with Cat and held on well to win in a MTB 3rd set.  Going into the second round of matches 4-3 up the battle looked like it would be tricky. Despite some good games and a lot of fight, the match ended in a 7-6 loss. We remain 2nd in the table behind Lomond Park and look forward to another home match next week.

Women's Fourth Team (Div 5B), captain Mhairi Reid

We traveled to Kirkcaldy this week to play Kirkcaldy 2s. It was another hard-fought match and we narrowly missed out on a win, losing 6-7. Congratulations to Rose Wilson on her debut for the team and thanks to everyone who played.

DUNLOP EAST OF SCOTLAND MEN’S LEAGUE 2023 (Week 6)

Men’s First Team (Division 2)

The men’s 1st team maintained their winning form in week 6 of the league season with a solid away victory (11-3) over David Lloyd Edinburgh 1s. The team of Alex Lesiuk, Joe Edmunds, Jimmy Wood, Stef van Walstijn, Tom Johnston & Louis Duthie Gray put in a strong performance to maintain top spot in the table.

Men’s Second Team (Division 3)

The men’s 2nd team match against Drummond 1s is unfinished. It is currently 8-7 to Drummond. The match will be played to finish on Tuesday 6 June.

Men’s Third Team (Division 6A)

The men’s 3rd team travelled a short distance to take on Merchiston 3s in perfect conditions, in a match exhibiting good camaraderie. A comprehensive 11-3 Braid win was achieved through the pairings of John/ Mathias, Graham/ Pete Thomson, and Gilberto/ Ross.

Men’s Fourth Team (Division 9A)

The men’s 4th team continued their good form with win at home performance against a much stronger Dalkeith 3rd team. Our first two pairings of Juan Carlos Varona/Gary Kedney and Eugene Creally/James Paulin both won and lost a rubber. Callum Thomson/Jack Flower took advantage of this solid base to bring home the points, with two excellent straight set wins. Back-to-back wins puts the team right in the mix for promotion with three games to go. Well done all