Sarnian girls triumph

HONOURS were even in the under-14 inter-insular - Guernsey took the girls' section, Jersey the boys'. The Sarnian girls recorded a fine 7-3 win. Heather Watson won both her singles matches, though Sarah Jones put up a strong fight.

Against a much-improved Kirsten McArthur, Olivia Cooney had the better of a baseline battle of nerves, a match of long rallies.

At number three, Isabel Wray returned serve consistently well against Alex Taylor and was able to take the net to finish the rallies.

Joanna Dyer showed great potential and produced a particularly gritty performance against Alex Austin, giving her opponent few openings.

With the score 5-3, the Guernsey girls went into the doubles. Watson and Wray powered to victory in the third set of their match. With consistent baseline play, Cooney and Dyer were able to out-hit their opponents in straight sets.

In the boys' section, Alistair Higgins, playing at number one, had an excellent match against his long-time rival Aaron Higgins, but he narrowly lost. He won his second match, against Daniel Cleal, with some consistent serving and returning.

Jonny Taylor fought all the way against Cleal, clinching the second set on a tie break to win the match.

In a close tussle, Gareth Grand was unlucky to go down against Ben Taylor, 5-7, 5-7.

An ankle injury hampered Paul Cave in his match against Tim de la Haye. He struggled on but was unable to run sufficiently to play his normal game.

Spectators were gripped by the doubles match of Alistair Higgins and Taylor against Aaron Higgins and Cleal. Guernsey narrowly lost the first set, but fought back to take the second, 7-5. The ball was hit hard in the decider, with Guernsey outclassing the Jersey pair to take it 6-1.