PALMERS tennis club’s junior boys tennis teams have been in action in the under 18 Essex League.

The firsts had a very tough fixture away to Thorpe Bay in Division Two, with Charlie Kay, Max Thompson, Sean White and Andrew Harrod completing the line up.

In the singles, Charlie Kay lost 4-6, Max Thompson 3-6 and Andrew Harrod, 3-6. But Sean White stopped the rot by winning his match 6-3.

The doubles rubbers saw honours even. The pairing of Thompson and Harrod lost 1-6, but Kay and White won 6-2. This made the final score 4-2 to Thorpe Bay. It’s a result that keeps Palmer’s first string nestling safely in the middle of division two.

The second string were keen to build on their impressive performance against the firsts last week, and their visiting opponents were Hylands from Hornchurch.

The team comprised Olly Smith, Hugh Smith, George smith and Alex Gee.

Olly Smith won a tight set 7-6 and Hugh Smith also had a close call but came through 7-5. Number three seed Alex Gee was ahead, but his opponent staged a strong comeback to beat him 5-7.

George Smith came through 6-3 to give Palmers II a 3-1 lead after the singles rubbers.

In the doubles, the pairing of Olly and George Smith suprisingly succumbed easily 1-6, but Hugh Smith and Alex Gee teamed up to win 6-4.

This result saw the seconds end up as 4-2 winners.

The weekend saw Palmer’s juniors stage the boy’s 14 and under Road To Wimbledon competition.

After playing the preliminary round robin rounds on the Saturday, four qualifiers out of eight entrants went through to the knock out stage played the next day.

The semi-finalists consisted of Marc White, Brandon Sherriff, Daniel O’Flaherty and Matthew Davies. It was decided to play shortened sets up to four instead of the usual six, due to the intense heat and the fact the final also had to be played on the same day.

The first semi final saw O’Flaherty beat the youngest and most spirited player on the court, Sherriff, 4-2 4-2.

The consistency and excellent defence of Davies proved too much for White in the other semi and he eventually came through a gruelling match to win 5-4, 0-4, 10-6 (tie break).

The final was between Davies and O’Flaherty, and saw Davies’ solid strokes and mental strength hand him a 4-1 5-4 victory.

Both players go on to the Essex County finals at Redbridge Sports Centre, with the winner going on to represent Essex on the grass courts at Wimbledon.