Charnwood Tennis Club member Rob Leck, fresh from a couple of strong British Tour performances, set off for Northampton at the weekend to spearhead Leicestershire's campaign in division 4b of the Winter County Cup.

Leck  joined Charnwood when his family moved to the area 13 years ago, and has remained a member, along with his parents and sister Katie, ever since. During that time he has developed a strong loyalty to Leicestershire tennis, and is always delighted to represent the county.

The Winter County Cup is a nationwide event played over three days, with counties placed in groups of four. Leicestershire are now moving up through the groups as their young squad matures, and there was a lot of optimism prior to this year's competition. Each match consists of six singles rubbers followed by three doubles, with the team winning the most rubbers gaining victory.

Tricky first day

The first day of Winter County Cup is always tricky for players with full-time jobs, as they tend to travel the night before and just have a very brief opportunity to acclimatise to the courts before being thrust into action.

Leck was very much in this situation when the event began on Friday, and was uncharacteristically subdued in his first singles match against Norfolk's Kristopher Jenkins.

Jenkins is a heavy hitter, although not really on the same level as Leck, but he nonetheless managed to extend the Leicestershire player to a second set tie-break before ultimately going down 6-2, 7-6.

Leck was not particularly satisfied with his showing, but considering he had only had 20 minutes of practice on the rather erratically lit indoor courts at King's Park, he was pleased to have got off to a winning start.

Overall, despite one or two other slightly below par performances, Leicestershire showed their professionalism to earn a 7-2 win over a solid Norfolk team.

Both Joe Young and Matt Howse had to work hard for their singles victories, but their determination and composure got them through.

Welsh challenge on Day Two

On Saturday, the opposition were North Wales, who had lost to Staffordshire in their opening match.

The Welsh team have some experienced players, but lack strength in depth, so Leicestershire cruised through the lower-ranked singles encounters.

Leck was looking much sharper this time, and he needed to be as he faced the animated and highly motivated Tom Thelwall-Jones, hitting hard and giving 100% commitment for his team.

The match was highly entertaining, with both players attacking when possible but also showing excellent defensive skills. Leck's superior variety eventually won him the contest 7-5, 6-3, but this was several levels above the tennis seen on day 1.

Despite a defeat for Matt Howse against a clinical Nick Jones, Leicestershire were largely untroubled in earning an 8-1 victory, although special mention should be given to Angus Osborne and Jack Minski, who overcame Nick Jones and his regular partner Simon Morris in a deciding tie-break.

Promotion looming

With Norfolk beating Staffordshire on Saturday, Leicestershire were well on the way to promotion before play had even started on Sunday, but captain Matt Richmond made sure that they were thoroughly focused and ready to put in another dominant showing.

Wins for Theo Coats, Jack Pickering and Aaron Jinks clinched the divisional title, but play continued as the relegation battle was still undecided. There were a few nervous looks on Staffordshire faces as Leicestershire continued to put their players to the sword.

Leck faced former Loughborough University first team player George Foster, and wasted no time in winning 6-0, 6-2.

By this point the match score was 5-0 to Leicestershire, but with North Wales going 4-3 down to Norfolk, the former could no longer pass Staffordshire and the afternoon concluded.

Matt Howse suffered a narrow defeat in an abbreviated final set against Tom Welsh to make the final score 5-1, but Leicestershire had demonstrated their superiority in no uncertain terms.

Overall this was another very successful weekend for the county team. Next winter they will face stronger opposition in division 3, but if this squad stays together they will fear no-one.

Image credit; Leicestershire Tennis on Facebook