Devizes A Vs Devizes B

The League Knockout Cup preliminary stages up to and including the semi-finals are played before the season even starts.  Each team is given a game handicap to ensure a fair contest.  As it turned out in pre-season, players availability meant that some from the A team were playing for the B's this year and vice-versa.  The build up had been much anticipated before the final, with a close match predicted.

The A team were the holders of the Cup, winning it last year.  They were giving away 8 games advantage to the B team at the start of play.  2 sets of mens and ladies are followed by a set of mixed against each pair.  With 8 sets being played the magic number of games to acheive a win is 48.

In the mens and ladies rubbers there were differing fortunes.  The mens B team lost 6-3, 6-1 effectively cancelling out the 8 game deficit.  The ladies shared the sets 6-4, 4-6 which meant that, including the handicap, the scores were level at the halfway point.

In the mixed the first two rubbers were close affairs, with the A's winning 6-4 and 6-5 (the Cup format is short sets, meaning a tie-break is played at 5-5).  This game them a three game lead, still not insurmountable for the B's.  The A's dominance finally came through however, in the second mixed sets, which they won 6-1 and 6-2 giving them a good win in the end and retaining the Cup.