THE West Somerset Tennis League season came to an end with the final match of the season - a play-off between Minehead A trying to halt relegation to Division 2 against Wellington A who were hoping to clinch promotion back into Division 1.

This rearranged match - due to September downpours - was played under perfect autumnal evening skies and was a very close contest indeed. Wellington A first pairs Liz Deem and James Cross made light work of defeating Minehead's Ken and Caroline by only dropping 2 games.

However, Wellington's second pair Sue Rackley and Phil Cookson had a much tougher match. Wellington won the first set 6-4 and should have been able to serve out the second set at 5-3 ahead but Minehead fought back taking the second set 7-5.

The nail-biting championship tie-break was a real battle which could have swung either way, but Minehead triumphed 10-7. So at half-time, Wellington had 3 sets and Minehead 2.

In the men's match, Wellington took the first set 6-4 but Ken and Kieran stepped up to run away with the second set 6-0. They continued to play well and took the championship tiebreak 10-5.

So now both teams had 4 sets a piece and it was down to Sue and Liz to win their match to secure promotion. In the Ladies' match, Minehead's left-handed Caroline's great net play meant they quickly took a 4-0 lead. However, Liz and Sue stayed calm adding pace and depth to their shots as well a many well-placed volleys which meant Wellington took the next 6 games, therefore, taking the first set 6-4.

Again, they repeated this in the second, set also winning it 6-4. Therefore, Wellington won 7-4 and will be promoted.

"It has been a tremendous season this year for Wellington Tennis Club as 2 out of the 3 teams have gained promotion,” said Wellington club chair Sue Rackley.

“ We are also playing some winter friendlies with neighbouring clubs to encourage other players to play more competitive tennis. The club is interested to hear from any players who have moved into the area or who have played competitively in their youth to get in touch," she added.

The club has reduced membership prices for the Winter so check out its website Wellington Tennis Club / Membership / Packages (lta.org.uk).

Meanwhile, Taunton School won 8-4 against Elms A in the Division 2/3 play off in the West Somerset League, meaning the school retained their status in the second division.

In the Division 3/4 play off, Wiveliscombe B went down to a 6-3 defeat to Hemyock A while Minehead C C beat Taunton C 6-5 in the Division 4/5 match.