Doubles duo defy the odds in a smashing win
A pair of tennis aces fought for five sets to secure a doubles victory. Martin McCallum and Sary Rahma’s hours of practice, both bounce games and league matches, through a long hot summer, stood them in good stead across a total of nearly four hours play. Seven would seem an odd number for a tennis doubles championship but that is how many players turned up, at 6pm, to contest last Friday’s Campbeltown Lawn Tennis Club’s (CLTC) men’s competition. Names were put into a hat to select the pairings. In the first match, Martin McDougall was selected to play with Lorne Robertson against Miller Irwin and Mark Davey. Sary Rahma and Martin McCallum made another pairing, leaving Jamie Morris to play with one half of whichever pair lost the first match by again putting two names into a hat. Poor serving dogged both teams but, in the first set, it was the Robertson/ McDougall team which slaughtered the Irwin/Davey combination in a 6-1 win. Irwin remained positive and upbeat, determined to instill mental strength in his flagging partner. The pair proved to be of sterner stuff in the second set eventually bowing out 7-6 after a tiebreak. Robertson/McDougall took a break, although McDougall kept warm beating Davey in a league match, while Robertson headed into town for sandwiches. Davey gave up his chance to be redrawn for a further match leaving Irwin to join Morris for Rahma/ McCallum’s first foray. Rahma/McCallum took the first set 6-1 before the strong Morris/Irwin pairing bounced back to take the second 6-4. In the third set despite some drawn out deuces Morris/ Irwin went down 6-2. As the light dimmed Robertson/McDougall took on Rahma/McCallum. It was a tough battle of 18 games, belied by the 6-3, 6-3 eventual score, at 9.35pm. It had included many games which could have gone either way. The men’s singles match for the Dickson cup is scheduled for tomorrow at 10am, weather permitting.