A Capital Performance
The Blues men’s side in action against ULU
The Blues tennis team continued their winning ways on Sunday, marching to a comfortable 7-2 victory against a combined University of London team. Taking advantage of the tricky, damp, conditions, Oxford raced to an early lead as Mark Carpenter combined with captain Paul Gulliver to record a straightforward 6-1, 6-0 win at number two doubles.
Soon afterwards, Oxford were 2-0 ahead as Marco Hernandez and Matt Coupland, aided by Coupland hitting some ‘bomb serves’, proved too solid for their opponents, notching up a 6- 4, 7-5 victory. This meant that despite Oxford’s first pair of Phil Raddant and James Spooner losing out on a third set tiebreak to a strong pair of New Zealanders, Oxford still went in to the singles rubbers in pole position at 2- 1.
Oxford continued to cope better with the conditions which hampered movement and appeared to prevent all of the players from displaying the full array of their skills. Oxford quickly extended their lead as Hernandez and Carpenter both recorded quick 6-2 6-2 victories at numbers five and three respectively. Indeed, it was not long before Coupland secured overall victory, comfortably overpowering and outplaying his opponent for a 6-2 6-4 victory at number six.
Gulliver had a tougher time of it, battling hard against his New Zealand opponent in a tight first set which included some delightful net play and stylish passing shots from both players. The set eventually fell 6-4 to the U.L.U number two however, and he went on to win the second 6-2 in order to secure the victory. Spooner and Raddant reinforced the margin of victory however, as they made amends for their doubles defeat, both grinding out victories in difficult circumstances.
Spooner who was 5-2 down and on the rocks in the first set, pulled things together and put in a mature performance to eventually win in straight sets at number five, 7-5 6-3. Meanwhile, despite having his trademark baseline game hindered by the slippery grass, Raddant outthought and outplayed his talented and extremely powerful opponent coming through 6-7 6-4 6-3. This victory adds another notch to the tally in what has been a very successful season for Oxford.
After gaining promotion from their BUSA league while remaining unbeaten, Oxford have gone on to win all but one of their fixtures so far since the start of Michaelmas - a run which has included victories against the prestigious Queen’s Club in London and the All England Club at Wimbledon. Their only downfall was in the semi-finals of the BUSA knockout competition, where, facing Southampton University, they lost on tiebreak shootouts after drawing the singles and doubles rubbers.
2nd Jun 2005