The pressure of shooting for four straight flags clearly didn’t have any effect on Chris Straford’s Grade 1 Open Doubles team on the weekend as they defeated Grace Park to achieve the rare feat.
The local rivalry added a little spice to the match but it was the Kooyong side that showed the way in the first two rubbers.
Wes Horskins and Chris Costas played Grace Park’s Jason Lindeman and Steve Myers and despite the Kooyong pair made the most of their opportunities late in the set to take the lead 7/5.
The match remained close but Wes and Chris kept the upper hand to get their team off to a great start with a straight sets victory 7/5 6/4.
The captain, Chris Straford, teamed up with Steve Gay against Grace Park’s John Hammond and Colin Davis and it was another close match as both sides battled for the ascendency but the class of Straford and Gay shone through as they won the first set 6/3.
The Kooyong pair continued to press home their advantage and by winning in straights sets 63 6/4 gave their team a huge advantage going into the reverse doubles.
The third rubber saw Wes Horskins team up with Peter Owen against Colin Davis and Richard Birmingham and it was the Grace Park pair that took advantage of their opportunity in the opening set to give themselves a chance of a win when they won it 7/5 and were 4/2 in the second set when proceedings came to a close.
On the adjacent court, Chris and Steve had won the first set of their match with Jason and Steve 7/5 to win the flag for Kooyong.
Four straight flags is a wonderful effort and everyone involved with the team over the past few years is to be congratulated.
Congratulations to this year’s team of Chris Straford, Steve Gay, Wes Horskins, Peter Owen, Chris Costas, Claude Gattino, Phillip McCall, Tyrone Berger, Ken Cooper and Ilmar Mutli on a great season!
