Tennis: City teams into Scots tennis semis

Prospects of a rare all Edinburgh final to the Scottish men’s tennis cup remain alive following success for Thistle and St Serfs in the quarter-finals.

Neither club has previously won this competition in which they both reached finals in the 1980s.

Also through to Saturday’s semis are Blackhall women, who pulled off a shock by defeating last year’s finalists Dunfermline, and they now face Clarkston for the chance to dispute the trophy against either Strathgryffe or Newlands at Craiglockhart on Sunday, June 24.

St Serfs await holders VA Lanarkshire following a 7-2 victory over Melrose, while Thistle also have a home tie, against Thorn Park, who beat Braid 6-0.

In reaching the last four Thistle overcame a Whitecraigs side featuring evergreen pair John Howie and Graham Reid and will be reinforced by the return of Neil McPhee. Lorne Berkeley completes the four.

Spearheading the Thistle win were Alan MacDonald and Marcel du Coudray who, with the result already decided and rain-setting in, forfeited their concluding tie from a set up and 2-1 while Graham Dyce and Ewan Bell were unbeaten. St Serfs will be without Vincent Hibert, who partnered Mark Gaffney to three wins against Melrose while Craig McFie and Neil Harden were also unbeaten. Completing the successful line-up were David Gaffney and Rich Miller, while Jamie Nisbet comes in for Hibert on Saturday.