The round of 16 was held up yet again by rain which had flooded the courts. Play did not get under way until 1 pm. Foxy was up first against Greek Michael Psarros, who Scott had beaten in Mombasa. Foxy made a great start taking the first set 6-2. A poor service game at the beginning of the second set seemed to switch the momentum and Psarros played error free tennis to come back and win the next 2 sets 6-2 6-2.  A disappointing outcome after such a good start.

On the opposite bank of courts Craig was watching Seb take on Austria’s L. Erhart. Though he created many chances to make it close, Seb did not deal with Erhart’s left handed forehand and lost 2-6 1-6 in just over an hour.

More disappointment was to come! Brigit was drawn to play the little Ukrainian Anastasia Shestakova. She had already beaten her in the doubles final in Mombasa and Lissie also beat Shestakova in a  4 hr marathon singles match that same week. Brigit made a great start to lead 5-3 but was never able to finish her off, losing the first set 5-7 and the second 3-6.  Lissie also made a great start against the 3^rd seed, another Austrian Julia Grabher taking the first set 6-2. Unfortunately once the Austrian got her powerful groundstrokes working she came back strongly to win the next 2 sets 6-1 6-3.

With all 4 singles players losing attention turned to the doubles.

The bad news continued as Foxy and Scotty lost by the narrowest of margins to Ndayisena (Birundi) and Onyancha (Kenya).  Playing shortened sets due to the amount of time that had been lost to the rain they lost the first set 1-4 but came back strongly to take the second 4-2, despite  some very dubious line calls  by the tournament officials who clapped wildly every time their opponents won a point. The final set was a ‘Champions’ tie break which they lost 8-10. A very unfortunate way to go out of the tournament for the pair that blew away the opposition in Mombasa. David Fox made a formal complaint to the ref about the conduct of the match officials but the result stood.

So ended a very poor day for the TEAMBATH-MCTA players. It is often a good opportunity to reflect on areas we must improve and that is what we did after our evening meal at the excellent Fairview Hotel that had become our ‘regular’ restaurant, selling huge bowls of fresh pasta.

With only Seb and Samm and Lissie and Brig left in the tournament things started much better the next day and they did. Both pairs reached the Quarter finals with wins over good foreign opposition. Samm and Seb had a great win over the Austrian seeds Erhart and Grabher 4-2 2-4 10-6. Brigit and Lissie were too consistent for Farah Aziz and her Italian partner Lombardo winning 5-4 4-2.

The quarter finals proved too much though with defeat for the girls against the top seeds, Egyptian El Khamash and Austrian Julia Grabher 2-4 2-4. The boys lost all their momentum from their round of 16 victory, losing poorly against the Cypriot pair Avestas and Pervolarakis 2-4 0-4.

So ended our ‘Safari’ (journey in Swahili) to Kenya. It certainly took us away from the perfect conditions of the British indoor tennis circuit back to the reality of ‘honest’ tennis outdoors on difficult surfaces. Our players learnt many things about themselves in Kenya and it will serve as a great experience in the long run. Unfortunately no one mastered Swahili, though I did learn one other word, ‘Jambo’ (hello)!

Meeting an X Factor Star!

There was a final twist to our Kenya tale. Whilst waiting to board our Kenya Airways Boeing 777  to fly home, there was a great commotion at the Gate and two young women seemed to be getting a lot of attention.  Lissie screamed, “it’s Stacey Solomon from the X Factor, my Dad’s favourite”. Not believing her I walked straight over and asked “Are you Stacey Solomon”? “Yes” she replied fidgeting with her passport. “Do you mind if I look at your passport to confirm this” I said in my best Columbo investigators voice. “It’s not a great picture, but go ahead” said Stacey. On seeing the proof I asked if she minded having her photo taken with Lissie and Brigit. “No problem” said Stacey and you can see them below!

Thank you Stacey, you were very good to us and best wishes with your singing career.

Jim Edgar