Holcombe Brook’s men suffered a major setback in their opening fixture in the Aegon National Team league at Nuffield, losing a tense match on a championship tie-break.

The match could not have been closer with the singles being tied at 2-2 and the doubles shared 1-1. This led to the championship tie-breaker and even that was decided on a net-cord that fell against the Longsight Road team at 8-9.

The Brook, who were forced to field a depleted side against the strong Yorkshire outfit, will already face an uphill task as they attempt to qualify for the July finals in Bournemouth.

Disappointed team captain Andy Davies said: “At this early stage we cannot afford another loss. We will now have to beat favourites Manchester Northern if we are to progress. At least we should be able to field stronger teams for our subsequent matches.”

The under-18 girls Aegon Team Tennis got underway at the weekend with Holcombe Brook girls Laurie Clark and Chloe Coton playing singles and doubles against Bradshaw girls.

Clark beat Rebecca Baldwin 6-0, 6-0, while Coton defeated Lauren Williams 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-3). In the doubles, Holcombe Brook won 6-1, 7-5.

The u12s and u9s matches were postponed due to weather.