Well done all the finalists and a big thank you to all those who helped and/or supported the day; we had some great tennis, weather and food. The full results are as follows:
JUNIORS
U9s
Starting off the day was the U9s playing with slightly squidgy balls and a short court. Keyden Thiem battled it out with Oliver Barrass for the honours. Cheered on by the family ‘crowd’ it was Keyden that sealed victory taking the prize for 2018
U11s
The U11s brought a head to head between the two Singh girls. Played on the full court they both showed some tremendous form and also promise for the future with some fine tennis played. Poppy finally came out victorious beating her sister Jasmine much to the admiration of the Singh family in the stands!
ADULTS
Mixed
After the preliminary rounds to reduce the number of men, Julian Sills found himself partnered with an in-form Liz Wakefield who were up against Darren Hammond and Sue Newman. A very entertaining match ensued but Julian and Liz maintained their early momentum to win 6-2, 6-2.
Ladies Singles
The Only event where both competitors get a ‘gold star’ for playing all matches on time; it was straight to the final! A brave Rosalind Davies found herself up against Charlene Jacobs and in fact put up a sterling effort to try and beat the club’s reigning No1 but in the end Charlene proved just too strong and won in straight sets 6-2, 6-0
Ladies Doubles
It was time for Jane Martin and Angela Collins to pair up against a formidable partnership of Charlene and Liz, both on for the second time in the day and it proved to be an entertaining and much closer match than the score would suggest. However, despite Angela’s fist pumping and putting everything into it, it was Liz and Charlene that proved to be too strong and again it was a straights sets win, 6-1, 6-2
Mens Doubles
With the random partner selection followed by a best estimate at seeding it was fitting that Julian found himself partnered with Walter Noronha and Darren was with Alec Finnemore. This proved to be a good even match and as with many doubles matches, it was an entertaining and tight game. It was the first and only 3-setter of the afternoon and despite Walter’s amazing reach and tenacity at net, it was Darren and Alec who clinched victory in the third. 6-4, 6-7, 6-4
Super Vets
Sounds like a reality TV show on the farm but no, this was introduced as a competition for more senior members. Lots of fun and confusion in the preliminary rounds regarding the format and scoring, it was a success and brought Liz onto the court for the third time partnering with Chris Smith and they were up against Paul Buchanan and again Sue Newman in her second final of the day. With the sun dropping and with Ellen and Margaret willing their men on, it was Chris and Liz that finally came out on top winning 6-3, 6-3.
Mens Singles
Jamie Forrest as the No. 1 seed predictably reached the final having barely broken into a sweat but found himself up against a real challenge in the final with Ben O’Hara, the club’s main coach with Prime Tennis. Despite this being Jamie’s third match of the day due to competing in a championships at Sutton, it was an excellent demonstration of explosive tennis played with great skill and power with both players giving it everything. The first set looked easy on paper with Jamie taking it 6-0 but it was everything but one-sided and Ben delighted his imported fan club to fight back in the second. A super tight and entertaining match with again Jamie ending as the well deserved 2018 champion. Score was 6-0, 7-5
Mens Vets
The only other 3-setter of the finals was in the mens vets with Tim Wakefield up agains Jonathan Shaw which was agreed to play the evening before as Jonathan was unexpectedly called away from Saturday. Really tight and just one or two points splitting a hard fought match over 2 hours but it finally ended with Tim taking victory in the third 6-7, 6-4, 7-5. No photos from this as too busy playing! but Bill presented the honours on Saturday.
