It was a cold, rainy day in DL17 but with rackets in hand and the knowledge that a curry in Durham awaited them after the match, Harlow tennis club, from Harrogate, made the 1 hour plus trip up the A19 to give us an early season run out.

Hieu and Steve got proceedings under way against Harlow's number one pairing of Colin and Cassius.  And, after a nasty fall from Cassius that temporarily halted play, Hieu and Steve emerged as 8-4 winners to give us a perfect start.  On court 1, Alan and Tony quickly brushed off any rust after not playing much since last season and were too strong for the Harlow pairing of Paul and Richie.  Back over on the front courts and Shaun and Jamie recovered from a 5-2 deficit to see off Andrew and John in a close tie-break.  Although that gave us a 3-0 start after the first set of rubbers, that tie-break win would prove to be crucial.

Shaun and Jamie couldn't repeat their first round win and went down 8-4 against Colin and Cassius. Despite his injury Cassius's whipped forehand was too hot to handle. Andrew and John gave Harow their second point of the day with a hard fought 8-6 win over Alan and Tony.  Hieu and Steve made it two wins out of two against Paul and Richie to give us a 4-2 lead heading into the final games.

As the rain came and the wind whipped up we shortened the games and grabbed the point we needed with Shaun and Jamie beating Paul and Richie.  It was needed as Harlow battled to win their final two rubbers to deny Steve and Hieu a 100% record and close the gap to a score of 5-4.

Then after some quick photos under the shelter of the pavilion it was off to the Gretna to get a well earned drink and talk tennis.  The final action of the day was for Harlow to nominate Alan as there man of the match for his wicked left handed forehand and sliced serve.  We gave the award to Cassius for his battling display, depsite his injury.

It was great day and we hope to make the trip to Harrogat next year for a rematch.