Division 1 Roundup - Week 2
Sasaki and Hasbeens Maintain Winning Starts
Two weeks into the season, and early doors it is Milton Keynes Sasaki and Chackmore Hasbeens setting the pace in Division 1, as they both convincingly made it two wins from two.
Sasaki were facing stable mates, Milton Keynes Sharks, and Sasaki powered to the biggest win in the Division so far, running out 8-2 winners. Michael Wilkins again scored a maximum, and his two team mates, Minesh Pitamber and Cannon Wong each scored two wins, with Minesh joining Michael to just win the doubles against Rupert Greyling and Derick Rodrigues over four close legs. The only other set that was not straight games was Cannon's five leg win over Abhay Tijare. Sasaki were racing away with things at 7-0 up, but late resistance saw Derick beat Cannon and Rupert defeat Minesh, to salvage a couple of points, but it does leave Sharks in seventh place at this stage.
Hasbeens are joint top with Sasaki, after they picked up a second 7-3 win in two weeks, with the opposition this time being promoted Mursley Hawks. Hawks' winning doubles record went last week, and this week their unbeaten run in matches was halted in their second match at this higher level. For Hasbeens, Sam Willet needed to finish early, so played the first three sets, leaving his team 2-1 up, with a maiden win over Martin Johnson, and a win over David Bartlett, but lost out to Mark Dixon, all in straight games. The experienced doubles pairing of Bub Burman and Andy Whitehead were too good for Mark and Martin, again in just three games, and then Andy extended the Hasbeens lead to 4-1 in a fifth straight games set against Martin, although two of them went to deuce. Mark just got the better of Bub in the next one, to reduce the deficit, but Hasbeens marched on as Andy beat David comfortably and Bub did likewise against Martin. Set nine saw a first defeat of the season for Mark, as Andy continued his excellent form, drawing errors from all his opponents, to put Hasbeens 7-2 up. Expectations were that it would finish 8-2, as David had never beaten Bub, but that's what happened, and finally, after nine sets all in straight games, the final set went the distance, and it was David who found his range the better to take it. The match finished 7-3 to Hasbeens, with a maximum for Andy Whitehead, two wins for Sam and one for Bub, whilst for Hawks, it was two wins for Mark and one to David.
Milton Keynes Pumas picked up their first win of the season, condemning Leighton Buzzard Spitfires to a second defeat, as they ran out 7-3 winners. Once again, Andy Smith was unbeaten in singles, and this week he was joined by Adam Snowdon, who did likewise, although the pair lost the doubles to Andy King and Graham Silversides. Julie Snowdon collected the other win for Pumas, edging out Graham in five games, but lost out at deuce in the fifth to Andy King and in four games to Bernie Raffe.
The final match of the week was a 5-5 draw, as Milton Keynes Phoenix took on Leighton Buzzard Avengers. Gerald Ridgway was the star, here, with a maximum, although he was pushed to five games by Mateusz Browarnik and four close games by Fabrice Spelta. Gerald was joined by Ivor Howard in taking a very close doubles against Mateusz and Fabrice. Ivor also claimed one singles win, as he beat Steve Jordan in yet another five gamer, to complete the Phoenix tally, whilst for Avengers it was two wins each for Mateusz and Fabrice, plus one for Steve, who defeated Phoenix reserve Paul Tompkins, who remained without a win, despite pushing Mateusz very close in five.
So, after two weeks, the top two teams have opened up a slight gap, but it remains close below them.
Player of the Week : Andy Whitehead.