Strings Tied Up By Guildford In First National League Defeat

Exertions in the final stages of last weekend's British National Championships played their part in tonight's eighth round of the National League - but UniSport Guildford inflicted the season's first defeat of Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury as the Gloucestershire club went down 3/2 at the University of Surrey. Strings maintain their leadership in Group B, but Guildford have narrowed the gap behind second-placed Team Chichester, who left it to the last match to scrape a 3/2 away win at Hampshire's Team Solent.

In Group A, Manchester/Pontefract extended their lead at the top of the table after beating Wolverhampton 4/1, while bottom-placed Norwest Holst Nottingham forced their way into third place in the table after coming back from 0/2 down to defeat Derbyshire's Benz Bavarian Duffield 3/2.

Gloucester's Fiona Geaves celebrated her second successive Over-35 British national crown in Manchester on Sunday, but lost 2-9 9-2 2-9 2-9 to England team-mate Jenny Tranfield as Guildford immediately slipped behind in their battle with table-toppers Strings. Jesse Engelbrecht beat the visitors' late stand-in Adam Oakley to level the score before - in what Guildford team manager Ian Robinson described as 'the match of the night' - Neil Frankland fought back from two games behind to beat Tewkesbury's Chris Clare 2-9 2-9 9-7 9-7 15-13, saving one match-ball in the decider.

"It was a fantastic game, played at a blistering pace," said Robinson. "Chris was spraying winners all over the place in the first two games, and while he kept up this level throughout the match, Neil was also able to raise his game to meet him head on."

The final match saw Tewkesbury claw back one point as Malaysian star Ong Beng Hee beat home hero Stacey Ross 6-9 9-1 9-6 13-11. Ross's match preparation, however, was far from ideal as the 31-year-old had spent most of the day in a hospital with his wife Debbie who had tripped and broken her arm while jogging.

Linda Elriani, the Sussex star who clinched the women's British title for the first time 48 hours earlier, put in a champion's performance at Lee on Solent when she despatched the home side's Scottish U19 No1 Alexandra Clark 9-1 9-0 9-2 to maintain her unbeaten record for Chichester this season. Team captain Tim Vail also extended his unbeaten record when he defeated Team Solent's Rob Sutherland in straight games. Second and third strings Ritwik Bhattacharya and Greg Tippings, now the Lee coach, raised home hopes after wins over Peter Genever and Tim Garner, respectively, but Chichester clinched the tie victory when team No1 Mohd Azlan Iskandar beat Lee Drew 9-5 9-7 9-6.

Playing for the second time this season at their Yorkshire home venue in Pontefract, Manchester/Pontefract marched on to their sixth successive victory and increased their lead at the top of the Group A table to 32 points. But it was a tired squad No1 James Willstrop that put paid to a maximum points win, going down 4-9 8-10 7-9 to the fresh Wolverhampton No1 Anthony Ricketts, the world No11 from Australia. Willstrop, the 21-year-old who is ranked three places higher, fought through two long and arduous encounters on the all-glass court in Manchester last week before losing out to his Manchester/Pontefract team-mate Lee Beachill in his first British Nationals final.

In their East Midlands derby, former champions Benz-Bavarian Duffield got off to an excellent start against Group A visitors Norwest Holst Nottingham when Tania Bailey secured a confidence-boosting 9-2 9-7 6-9 9-3 win over Natalie Grinham, the world No3 from Australia who was making her debut this season for Nottingham. Former British Junior National champion Laurence Delasaux was also making his Duffield debut - and also triumphed 9-6 9-4 9-5 over his Nottingham opponent Nick Douglas.

But Nottingham took over at this point and wrapped up the final three matches to score a resounding 3/2 win and third place in the table - and still the chance of a place in the play-offs. Welshman David Evans was 'in a class of his own' as he despatched Duffield's Sam Miller 9-6 9-5 9-6 - and Dutch No1 Tommy Berden defeated Renan Lavigne, runner-up in the weekend's French National championships, 9-5 9-5 9-5.

The deciding final match took 65 minutes to reach its conclusion - and it was Nottingham's rejuvenated British Nationals' star Simon Parke who came out on top, beating fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew, the world No6, 9-7 4-9 9-6 16-14 in an end-of-evening thriller.

Group A:
Manchester/Pontefract 4-1 Wolverhampton
James Willstrop lost to Anthony Ricketts 4-9, 8-10, 7-9 (25m)
Marcus Berrett beat Scott Handley 9-11, 9-2, 9-2, 9-4 (32m)
Nick Taylor beat Mark Cairns 8-10, 9-2, 10-8, 7-9, 10-8 (71m)
Andrew Whipp beat Chris Ryder 12-10, 9-4, 9-3 (22m)
Jenny Duncalf beat Wendy Maitland 9-1, 9-1, 9-5 (23m)

Benz-Bavarian Duffield 2-3 Norwest Holst Nottingham
Nick Matthew lost to Simon Parke 7-9, 9-4, 6-9, 14-16 (65m)
Renan Lavigne lost to Tommy Berden 5-9, 5-9, 5-9
Sam Miller lost to David Evans 6-9, 5-9, 6-9 (30m)
Laurence Delasaux beat Nick Douglas 9-6, 9-4, 9-5
Tania Bailey beat Natalie Grinham 9-2, 9-7, 6-9, 9-3 (64m)

Group B:
Team Solent 2-3 Team Chichester
Lee Drew lost to Mohd Azlan Iskandar 5-9, 7-9, 6-9
Ritwik Bhattacharya beat Peter Genever 9-3, 9-7, 9-3
Greg Tippings beat Tim Garner 9-1, 4-9, 9-6, 9-3
Rob Sutherland lost to Tim Vail 2-9, 4-9, 2-9
Alexandra Clark lost to Linda Elriani 1-9, 0-9, 2-9

UniSport Guildford 3-2 Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury
Stacey Ross lost to Ong Beng Hee 9-6, 1-9, 6-9, 11-13
Stephen Meads beat Daryl Selby 9-7, 9-7, 9-4
Neil Frankland beat Chris Clare 2-9, 2-9, 9-7, 9-7, 15-13
Jesse Engelbrecht beat Adam Oakley 9-4, 9-3, 9-1
Fiona Geaves lost to Jenny Tranfield 2-9, 9-2, 2-9, 2-9