LTA Winter County Cup promotion hopes of Shropshire tennis teams dashed on final day

Just like last year, both the county’s men’s and women’s teams performed well in Group 5A of the prestigious annual event.

The Shropshire sides went into their final fixtures still targeting promotion, but defeats for the men against Northamptonshire and the women against Herefordshire & Worcestershire meant they missed out on moving up a level.

Tennis Shropshire chair Fiona Jones said: “Both of our Shropshire teams came very close to achieving promotion. 

"A point or two in the other direction could have seen a completely different result.

“Both teams again represented Shropshire so well throughout a busy weekend of tennis.

“It was also nice to see some of the county's up and coming players involved, with Gwen and Lily, two of our junior players, both part of the women’s side.”

Shropshire’s men’s side, captained by Alex Parry, looked on course to potentially gain their second promotion of the year after they had won all five of their matches in Hunstanton in July to gain promotion from Men's Group 6 in the LTA Summer County Cup.

This time, playing on the indoor courts at Tipton Sports Academy, Shropshire opened their Winter County Cup campaign with a 7-2 victory over Sussex on Friday and followed it up by beating Dorset by the same scoreline 24 hours later.

That left everything to play for on the final day against Northamptonshire, with Shropshire, who ended runners-up in their group, beaten 6-3 by a strong side which secured promotion by winning all three of their matches. 

Tom Loxley won five of his six matches throughout the weekend for Shropshire, while Ed Gibbs, Matt Jones, Luke Henley, Duarte Monteiro and Matt Lee also played for the county.

Shropshire’s women’s team, led by Elena Griffiths, had home advantage with their three fixtures played at The Shrewsbury Club, a repeat of last year.

Having started with a narrow 5-4 defeat against Cornwall, Shropshire then enjoyed a 6-3 victory over North of Scotland on day two.

All four teams in the group went into the final day with the chance of finishing top of the group and sealing promotion.

Shropshire’s hopes ended with another close defeat as they were edged out 5-4 by Herefordshire & Worcestershire.

That meant Shropshire finished third in their group, with Cornwall, 6-3 final-day winners against North of Scotland, ultimately gaining promotion.

Gwen, one of the county’s promising junior players, and Chloe Hughes both won five of their six matches for Shropshire.

The side also featured Lily, another of the county’s juniors, Lauren McMinn, Amy Humphries, Helen Roberts, Hanna Cadwallader, Amy Dannatt and Cheryl Evans. 

The LTA Winter County Cup is the second oldest County Cup event, having first been played in 1946.

The 44 county teams - 88 men's and women's sides combined - were placed in 22 groups, with matches, held across England, as well as in Scotland and Wales, and played on a round-robin basis, with six singles and three doubles matches for each fixture.