Reports for the three nights of tennis shows teams playing in some exciting matches across all competitions.

Tuesday night by Jason Blake

It was a warm and muggy Tuesday night which was a welcome change from the recent cold snap.

It was technically Speirs’ bye, though you wouldn’t have known it with Guy, Karyn, and David popping up on more courts than a bad line call.

Courts 1 and 2 – Evans vs O’Loughlan Team Evans rolled in with a trio of premium-grade fill-ins: Guy Taylor, Liam Wilson and David Aldous.

With that much firepower, they swept all six sets like they were tidying up after a club barbecue.

Team O’Loughlan, missing captain Mark, battled bravely with the three Foxes—Glenn, James, and Sarah - plus honorary Fox Geoff Hutchinson, but couldn’t slow the Evans steamroller.

Evans 7-6-36 defeated O’Loughlan 0-0-1.

Courts 3 and 4 – Blake vs McDonagh This one was a proper nail-biter, with more tiebreaks than a family Christmas.

Jason Blake and Greg McDermott dug deep, pushing two of their three sets to the brink. For McDonagh, Keira was the standout, winning two sets with partners Dion Theodossi and Arthur Gerrans.

Blake’s fill-in superstar Will Smith (the tennis edition, not Hollywood) also snagged two sets with Shane Hutchinson and Liza Karras.

In the closest finish of the night, Team Blake scraped home by a whisker - and maybe a lucky net cord.

Blake 5-4-28 defeated McDonagh 2-2-25

Courts 5 and 6 – Grant vs Murray - the final match began in familiar fashion: Dan Robertson doing Dan Robertson things, cruising to a 6-1 win with Karyn Fraser over Max Ree-Goodings and Dan Dundas.

From here though Max flipped the script, grinding out two tight wins with Kathryn Murray and Michael Tomlinson.

Callum Bono stayed close in all three sets but couldn’t crack through with Michelle Pigdon, who once again played like a brick wall with footwork.

The upset shook the ladder like a wobbly umpire’s chair.

Murray 6-5-31 defeated Grant 1-1-24

Ladder: Speirs 27.5, Blake 26.5, McDonagh 17.5, Evans 17.5, Grant 13.5, Murray 13, O’Loughlan 7.

Wednesday night by Cassie Daykin

During the day the weather looked dismal but as luck would have it Wednesday tennis got a balmy night to play.

The Kookaburras were loaded and ready to take on the top side Koalas.

Remaining a strong team Simon Young and Leonie McLaughlin had the match of the night against Rob Williams and fill-in Dafydd James fighting all the way to a tie breaker with Rob and Dafydd just getting on top.

The second set between Craig Wilson partnering fill-in Chelsea Dean for Kookaburras against Ted Lovick and fill-in Illena Meek, was 1 game to 6 games. All the sets of the night won by the almighty Koalas.

Koalas 7-6-36 defeated Kookaburras 0-0-11

In another absolute match taker, the Kangaroos also took all games from the buried heads of the Emus.

There were two close games with Kangas Peter Scales and Amy Les grabbing 6 versus Kerrie Williams and Steph Herridge scrapping to get 4.

Arthur Gerrans and Kate Les again showed their strong hands with Kate and the striking serve of Arthur taking the set from Cassie Daykin and Matt Lowe 6-4.

Kangaroos 7-6-36 defeated Emus 0-0-13

The closest match of the night was between Bilbies and Wombats both taking 23 games each.

A nail-biter to the end, Emma Kay and Tynan Mims showcased their great skills not letting one game out of their sight against Nick Ferguson and Josh Koning.

Suzie Wellborne and Olivia Clayton hooked two games to keep scores level in the match against David Mims and Carolyn Murray.

Bilbies 3.5-3-23 drew with Wombats 3.5-3-23

Ladder: Koalas 31, Wallabies 26.5, Kangas 25.5, Bilbies 23, Emus 19.5, Wombats 16, Kookaburras 5.5.

Thursday night by Courtney O’Loughlan

Competition remains close on Thursday nights with three teams separated by only half a match point coming into this week’s play.

Top team Banksias continued their run of form, extending their lead in the competition. The whole team put in a very strong showing against Bottle Brush, only conceding one set.

Chris Hill and last-minute fill-in Max O’Loughlan, of Flame Trees fame, were able to stick it out and come away with a hard-fought victory over Nat Bergsma and Andrew Raftery taking the set for Bottle Brush and avoiding the clean sweep.

Over on the middle courts, Flame Trees welcomed Mark ‘Sheriff’ Buscombe who made his long-awaited team debut in their tussle against Lily Pillys.

Lily Pillys played beautifully across all four team members and took a 5-1 victory as a result.

Arthur Gerrans was formidable from the baseline all night, with top-spin heavy groundstrokes and many clear winners on display across his three matches.

Anna Francis and Chelsea Dean were consistently impressive over their matches. Flame Trees only victory for the evening came via the pairing of Brad Freind and Mark Buscombe.

Freind’s service game was strong, and the pair managed to defeat Rhonda Carpenter and Chelsea Dean 6-4.

In the final match for the night, Gum Trees and Wattles squared up in what was the closest contest of the round.

Ladder position was up for grabs with a victory likely to see a change in the order. Wattles clinched the night 4-2 in the end but two tie-breaks (both involving number ones Bill Jones for Wattles and Tim Vardy for Gum Trees) across the six sets shows just how close things were between them.

Wattles’ victory sees them putting just that little bit of pressure on top team Banksias, and well within striking distance of them.

Once again, some fantastic tennis across the night and the stage is set for one final round prior to the Christmas mid-season break.

Ladder: Banksias 33, Wattles 30.5, Gum Trees 27, Flame Trees 26, Lily Pillys 20.5, Bottle Brush 10