Only one match was played, a Men’s Doubles featuring the father and son clash between Bruce Rigal & Yannick Tandy, and Joe Rigal & Ollie Turner, the third seeds. “An easy one for the seeds” you might say, except that Yannick is rated by at least one men’s first team member as better than anyone currently on the WH first team, although he currently plays for Paddington, and not West Heath.
The match took place on hard court 4, as there was a men’s first team match against Chandos 2, who drubbed West Heath by winning all but one set. They had two ex tour professionals playing for their team which was always going to make it difficult!
Bruce is steady but not spectacular, and Yannick is really good. Joe and Ollie are good and hard hitting. They both normally play for the second team, but also get drafted in to the first team. Ollie is a leftie and won the Singles in 2024
In the first set, the seeds started with Joe on the right and Ollie (the leftie) on the left, but it didn’t work that well. Bruce and Yannick broke, got to 4-2 up, and maintained the advantage to win the set 6-4. So Joe and Ollie decided to swap sides in the second set, which makes it easier to poach when receiving serve. They played a much strong second set, to take it 6-1.
The match outcome then depended on a 10 point match tie break. With the momentum in their favour, Joe and Ollie took the first 4 points of this, making it difficult for Bruce and Yannick. Joe and Ollie went on to improve their 2 minibreak advantage a little to take the tie break 10-5 and the match 4-6 6-1 [10-5].
