Cardiff…………………………………8
Swansea………………………………4
Last Wednesday saw the menÔÇÖs BUCS Western Conference Cup final take place at the superb facilities of Cardiff MetÔÇÖs Cyncoed Campus. The event consisted of four singles matches and two doubles, with Cardiff coming out victorious. Although Cardiff edged Swansea to the Cup, it went right down to the wire.
Fourth seed Jamie McKinnon pipped SwanseaÔÇÖs Nicholas Hallchurch in a third-set Championship tie-break to give Cardiff an 8-4 overall win after triumphing in four of the six matches.
It was a day marred by farce and controversy after the original start time of 11am had not been communicated to the visiting squad. Swansea arrived at 2pm, which meant the players only had till 5pm to finish all the matches.
Thankfully, the final dramatic contest was allowed to continue behind closed doors and the travelling supporters were sat courtside to see Cardiff earn victory in the competition.
The win will give the team, captained by Scott Thompson ÔÇô who was ruled out of playing with an injury ÔÇô confidence ahead of another big clash on April 9th, the Welsh Varsity fixture.
Earlier, CardiffÔÇÖs Danny Hawker and Michael Watkins had swept aside their doubles opponents in a 6-1, 6-4 straight-sets win, but Rob Knight and McKinnon faced a tougher test as they went down in a tie-breaker to lose to a Swansea doubles pairing that included their top seed, the impressive Julian Page.
Hawker then had trouble closing out his match against SwanseaÔÇÖs Michael Thomas, but eventually triumphed 6-1, 7-5. Watkins, meanwhile, a former contender for Junior Wimbledon, was untroubled as he won his singles match 6-0, 6-1. However, when Page defeated Knight 6-1, 6-1, Cardiff had to win the final singles match to secure victory.
With the pressure on his shoulders, McKinnon won in style and brought home a win that was celebrated long into Wednesday night.
Dominic Booth
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