Shropshire teams perform impressively at LTA Summer County Cup

The men’s team won all five of their matches in Hunstanton to gain promotion from Men’s Group 6, while the women’s side won three of their five matches in Women’s Group 7 in Manchester.

Shropshire’s men’s team started the week with a 6-3 victory over Somerset and followed it by beating Staffordshire 5-4, Gloucestershire 9-0, Northumberland 5-4 and finally Avon 7-2.

Shropshire’s women’s team narrowly lost their opening match of the week 5-4 against Oxfordshire. Impressive wins followed against Isle of Man 5-4 and Cumbria 6-3.

Then came a 6-3 defeat against Devon before they ended the week with a 5-4 win over Channel Islands.

Tennis Shropshire chair Fiona Jones said: "It’s been a difficult week for everyone involved in Shropshire tennis following the passing of Holly Mowling, who was the inspirational captain of Shropshire’s women’s team for so many years, and our thoughts very much remain with Holly’s family and friends.

“Both the county’s men’s and women’s teams performed so well at the LTA Summer County Cup and represented Shropshire impressively.

“The men’s team had excellent results to finish top of their group with five wins out of five to achieve promotion.

"It’s a real testament to the team spirit and the overall strength of the team led by Alex Parry.

“The women’s team were unfortunately hit by last minute injuries and we are grateful to players for stepping in at short notice to support the side. It was great to see Gwen, one of our young county stars, making her debut.

“She played very well against much older and experienced players and we’re confident this will be the first of many county weeks for Gwen.”

Hundreds of tennis players took to the courts around the country to represent their counties in a competitive team environment at the LTA Summer County Cup.

First played in 1895, County Week is one of the longest-running tennis tournaments on the domestic calendar, with teams for each tie consisting of three doubles pairs.

Matches were played throughout this week, from Monday until Friday, with 44 counties across seven groups competing at 13 grass court venues.