It wasn’t pretty, but Carlos “Benny” Chandler will take it anyway.
Chandler walked away with the third-place prize after defeating Ronald Chapman 21-12, 16-21, 21-10 in an error-laced third-place play-off match, in the dungeon division of the Bush Hall Dungeon Road Tennis Competition at the Deighton “Pa” Roach Centre on Thursday night.
The match featured more unforced errors than rallies, with both players regularly finding the top of the net and the outside of the court with misplaced and mistimed shots.
Those mistakes were especially prevalent in the opening set, where with the score locked at 10-10, Chapman committed seven straight unforced errors to help his opponent open up a comfortable 17-11 lead.
A powerful backhand drag from Chandler took the score to 20-12, before another forehand into the net by Chapman ended the set.
Chapman continued his erroneous ways in the following set, sending four straight backhand shots into the net which allowed Chandler to establish a 7-3 advantage.
Luckily for him though, Chandler was also in a gift-giving mood, and from a close scoreline of 11-11, he committed several unforced errors which allowed Chapman to race to a 17-13 lead on his way to levelling the score at 1-1.
Unfortunately, Chapman just couldn’t seem to keep the ball on the court in the decisive set, with his overly aggressive stance resulting in his attacks ending prematurely.
And from a score of 13-3, the only question which remained was whether or not he would escape the sow.
He barely managed to do that too as Chandler sent his backhand slice into the net with the score at 20-9, much to the disappointment of the small crowd on hand.
The match ended on the very next point, when Chapman’s attempted forehand down the line smashed into the net.
Both Emar Edwards and Julia Morris-Young claimed third spot in the “B” class and women’s divisions respectively after their opponents failed to show up.
Edwards had been slated to play against Simon Bayne, while the clash between Morris-Young and Margo Lorde never materialised. (RB)
