Fiery Challenge play out of the top drawer

The Grand Challenge Tennis Competition celebrated its 70th anniversary last Saturday and Sunday.

It was inaugurated by the late Bertie Phillips in 1948 to encourage tennis in the outlying areas of the then Border Tennis Association.

In those days there were four district associations such as East London, King William’s Town, Queenstown and Transkei.

There are now six district associations: Buffalo City, Joe Gqabi, Amathole, OR Tambo, Chris Hani and Alfred Nzo.

In 1987 a B-Challenge was introduced. The cup at stake is named after Mervyn Stacey, a former president of the Border Tennis Association.

The 2018 A-Challenge took place in Stutterheim last Saturday and Sunday.

The Buffalo City A side started the defence of their trophy by beating Amathole 6-2 in their opening match.

The closest encounter was that in which the Lizelle Botha/Cherie Biggs tandem squeezed past Nandi de Villiers and Satara Ferreira at 12-10 in the deciding set.

De Villiers made amends for this defeat by partnering Anton Mostert to victory over Bernard de Boer and Biggs in the final set tiebreaker.

The 2017 winners, Joe Gqabi, beat Buffalo City B 5-3 in their opening encounter.

The BC team had a chance to level matches when the Cindy Taylor/Jilda Manson held a matchpoint in the final set tiebreaker.

The BC A side gained a 7-1 victory over Buffalo City B to put them into the final.

The stars for the B team were Justin Price and Lynne Green who defeated the Jean Coetzee/Ashley Milne combination.

The final saw the Buffalo City A side lock horns with Joe Gqabi, who captured the opening men’s doubles matches on final set tie-breakers.

For Buffalo City A women Botha/Biggs and the Milne mother-and-daughter duo won their encounters against the Spence/Brown and the De Villiers/Lategan pairings in straight sets.

The remaining three mixed doubles all went to Buffalo City A, giving them a well-deserved 5-3 victory in defence of the trophy.