Stafford Lynn headed a successful tournament for the local players at the annual Belfast Open when he won the main draw singles and partnered Jason Black to victory in the main draw doubles. In its 18th year in 2015, this year's Belfast Open was the latest event in the Tennis Foundation Wheelchair Tennis Development Series.
Hosted by the local 'Spokes In Motion’ Wheelchair Tennis Club in association with Belfast City Council and Tennis Ireland, the event once again attracted a high quality entry, with players from England, Scotland and Ireland vying for honours at Belfast Indoor Tennis Arena.
The main draw singles saw six players contest two round-robin groups of three to decide which four players would advance to the knockout semi-finals. In the event Lynn finished unbeaten at the top of Group A and progressed to the last four alongside experienced Scot Peter Moore, while Ivor Jess MBE was unbeaten in Pool B to book his place in the semi-finals together with Gerry Milligan.
The first main draw match to go to three sets was Jess’s semi-final against Milligan and Jess made a fine recovery to prevail 2-6, 6-1, (10-6) after a match tie-break. Top seed Lynn came through the other semi-final relatively more comfortably, beating Milligan 6-3, 6-1, but the closest match was reserved for the final as Lynn won a thrilling contest against Jess 7-5, 3-6, (11-9).
With last year`s main draw singles champion Jason Black returning from injury he only played doubles this year and Black and Lynn finished top in the round-robin phase of the event after a 6-4, 4-6, (10-2) win Jess and Milligan. Both partnerships duly finished the round-robin in the top two positions to qualify for the final and the title was decided in another match tie-break as Black and Lynn earned a thrilling 7-6, 3-6, (10-7) victory.
The B Division singles followed exactly the same format as the main draw singles, with Matt Rollston, Ross Gourley, Republic of Ireland No. 1 Stephen Melvyn and Jamie Wall all progressing from their round-robin groups to the semi-finals. Although all three round-robin matches in Group B were decided in match tie-breaks, the semi-finals proved more straightforward for Rollston and Melvyn, who moved into the final in straight sets before Rollston took the B Division singles title after beating Melvyn 6-2, 6-4.
After representing Northern Ireland in the Sainsbury’s School Games alongside Gourley, Nathan McCabe took the honours in the C Division singles, the same event Gourley won in 2014. McCabe lost out to Kenny Cloke 4-2, 4-0 in their round-robin group match as both players advanced to the final, but McCabe turned that form around in the title decider to clinch a 4-3, 4-3 victory.
A straight knockout draw for the B/C Division singles saw Kenny Cloke and Gourley edge out Charlie Cloke and McCabe 6-4, 1-6, (10-6), while Paedar Heffron and Wall beat Jane Cloke and Melvyn 6-2, 6-2 in the other semi-final. Heffron and Wall went on to win the final 6-4, 6-3.
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