Eighth singles titles for Dyer and West

Beyond both winning an eighth singles crown at the recent Guernsey Senior Closed Tournament, the players claimed a further two titles apiece in the doubles at Longcamps.

Dyer proved particularly impressive and did not lose a single game against rival Lauren Barker in the women’s final.

She showed how much her game has improved and demonstrated supreme form to defeat the coach and county player 6-0, 6-0.

‘I knew as soon as I got that first point I was going to play well,’ said Dyer.

‘It could not have gone any better for me. It was a dream day and I was quite pleased to see the things I had been working on in training throughout the year.

‘I had my game plan and I stuck to it. I had a good run in the Island Games so I knew I was in good form, and it’s the only major tournament we have in Guernsey, really.

‘I do not think I would have believed anyone who said I was going to win that first time and now I’ve won another seven. I just want to keep winning them while I can.’

West added his seventh title in a row – but not without a close contest from a worthy rival.

He had a much closer final, having spent much time recently focusing on his coaching, only narrowly defeating Nico Robinson.

After winning the first set 6-2 and then falling 3-6 in the second, the match had been decided in a championship tie-break that went 10-8.

‘I’m very happy to retain the title again,’ said West after winning what he termed a ‘lottery’ tiebreak.

‘I believe it was the closest final Nico and I have contested in terms of the scoreline, so to come through after being tested more feels even better.

‘I don’t think it was the best-quality match overall from either of us, as it felt like when one of us had a good patch, the other didn’t.

‘But tennis matches are often decided by small margins and by stringing a few points together at the right time, which I think was the difference this time, especially early in the third-set tiebreak.’

He added: ‘I’ll certainly keep playing hard for the titles until I’m no longer in the hunt for them.’

Their dominance didn’t end with the singles titles, though.

Both Dyer and West fought out close matches to win doubles titles in their gender groups, before joining forces as past Island Games champions to take mixed honours.

Dyer combined with recent Games partner Natalie Le Cras to defeat main singles rival Barker, who had teamed with star veteran Helen Bonner-Morgan, in a very competitive match.

Dyer and Le Cras won 6-4, 6-4 after excelling in the pressure points.

The men’s doubles saw coaches Rob West and Andy Privett face brothers Nico and Pieter Robinson.

Again, West and his partner triumphed by the narrowest of margins, going 13-11 in the deciding championship tie-break.

The final of the mixed doubles united the singles title-holders and unsurprisingly Dyer and West, a gold medal pairing at Gotland 2017, beat Barker and Ben Ferbrache 6-2, 6-0.

Referee and Gibraltar 2019 team manager Rick Denton commented: ‘It was good to see our Island Games and county tennis stars dominate the tournament and show how much their games have improved this season.

‘These performances bode very well for the Island Games tennis event in Guernsey in 2021 and our county performances in the years ahead.’