HAVING got to within three match points of reaching the National Tennis League this year, the strength in depth that is currently prevalent in the Bude Tennis Club led them to enter two strong teams in the North Devon Houldsworth Cup.

Bude have reached the final of this competition on a number of occasions, but have won it only twice before.

This year however both teams reached the final, which took place at the Bude Recreation Ground during the second week of August.

The teams did Bude proud in a hard fought and extremely entertaining match with Bude A eventually emerging as winners.

The Bude A first pairing of Joe Reeve and Shannon Sandy won both of their matches fairly comfortably, but the teams’ second pairing of Matt Bosustow and Viv Cobner had much tougher games against the Bude B pairing of the experienced Gary Bickle and Ann Mason and the pairing of Andrew Troop and Morag Reeve before winning both on match tie-breaks 13-11 and 10-8.

It was a great day for both players and spectators and bodes well for the club’s future.

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week’s edition of the Post.