Milton Keynes Topspin 1-9 Greenleys Monarchs

BIG SCALP FOR MAGNIFICENT RUSSELL
 

When Dave Tiplady and Ian Johnston walked into our clubroom, well before 7.00 pm too, I held my breath at the possible arrival of Greenleys Monarchs third chopper from their vast pool of players to complete the ‘hard bat dream team’.  But alas, Dave Wels did not join them as the only Monarchs change from the side that were decimated by Greenleys Kings last week was Tiplady replacing Nowakowski, so Martin Hall kept his place.
 

Playing in his best aggressive style, Russell Penn took the opening game against Martin, just as he did last time, before losing over 4 games.  But the signs were there that he might have a great evening.  It was pretty much one way traffic though for the first 5 sets as Monarchs took a 5-0 lead.  At the time I though I did ok to take a game off Ian in set no.3, though subsequent events showed me to be well outdone by my team-mates.
 

Topspin did much better in the second half of the match, spurred on by an incredible Russell victory over Ian,  As the set progressed Russell took control of the rallies and Ian’s flashing forehand shots were nullified almost completely.  After taking the 4th game 11-5 Russell stormed into a 7-2 lead in the decider.  Ian fought back to 7-6 but our man would not be denied and held his nerve for an 11-8 victory.  Russell’s first win over a player in the top half of the Division and, in my opinion, one of the best 2 victories in his career.  This led to another couple of 5 gamers with Mervyn Kelly determined to show that ‘anything Russell could do, he could do better’ as Mervyn took a 2-game lead against Ian before the natural order was restored.  And I had my usual ‘battle royale’ with Martin, changing ends with a lead in the decider before he came back strongly, his trusty forehand seeing him home 11-7.
 

A quiet night for Dave Tiplady, however, never extended in his straight game wins.
 

At least Topspin extended the gap at the foot of the table by  a further point over rock bottom MK Phoenix, who were losing 10-0 on an adjacent court.