East of Scotland tennis women are up and running in Group Three of the LTA summer county cup after a nail-biting 5-4 win over Derbyshire at Raynes Park.
To complete a double East men also won, beating Middlesex 6-3 at Eastbourne, where some matches were played on the famous championship centre court.
East women had gone into the final round of matches leading 4-2 but were indebted to the experienced Braid combination of Mhairi Beattie and Sarah Macfadyen for completing a third straight win to see them through.
There was also a notable contribution from Maisie Wood and Aadya Iyer who won 2/3 as East bounced back from two initial defeats earlier in the week.
Spearheading the men’s charge are James Mackinlay and Scott Duncan whose three wins mean they have now lost only once in nine outings.
Captain Euan McIntosh and Sam Macneil – back after missing the previous day’s action with what was described as a frozen foot – contributed two rubbers with Alan Macdonald and Lance Nisbet also on the scoresheet, the latter securing overall success with a neat forehand volley
By securing victory early East were able to give 16-year-old prodigy Chenming Dong further valuable experience in the third round, partnering Euan McIntosh.
East men now face group leaders Warwickshire today (Thursday) before concluding against bottom of the table Northants. One win should be good enough to retain the place among the county elite they have held since 2019.
* Edinburgh’s Jacob Fearnley will play USA’s Tristan Boyer in the last 16 of the Cranbrook Open in Michigan later today (Thursday).
