06/05/13
Peter Willcox won his eleventh men's singles title, while Bethany Brookes won her third women's singles title as the 2013 National Deaf Tennis Championships came to an end on Bank Holiday Monday with Willcox narrowly missing out on a clean sweep of singles and doubles titles after a thrilling mixed doubles final.
In a rematch of the 2012 men's final, top seed Willcox turned the tables on defending champion and second seed Lewis Fletcher to secure a 6-3, 6-4 victory to add to his previous ten victories between 1999 and 2011.
The decisive match in the women's singles ended with 2010 and 2011 champion and top seed Brookes beating 2005 champion Beth Simmons 6-2, 6-3. Brookes ended the tournament having dropped just ten games in her four matches.
Bethany Brookes is presented with her trophies by Tennis Foundation President, Sir Geoffrey Cass
Willcox and Brookes both ended the championships with two National titles apiece.
Willcox partnered Lewis Fletcher to win their fourth men's doubles title together after a 6-0, 6-0 win over Arslaan Butt and Shaun O'Brien in their third and final round-robin match. The defending champions completed the tournament having dropped just four games in their three matches to add to their previous titles in 2005, 2008 and 2012.
With seven-time National women's singles champion Catherine Fletcher just concentrating on the doubles events this year, she partnered Brookes to a 6-2, 7-6(5) win over Sophie Paul and Simmons to remain unbeaten in their round-robin matches. The top seeds won their second successive women's doubles title.
Husband and wife duo Lewis and Catherine Fletcher claimed both doubles National titles that they contested after bringing the 2013 National Deaf Tennis Championships to a memorable conclusion.
The top seeds battled their way to their third mixed doubles National title, recording a remarkable 7-6(2), 6-7(2), (10-7) win over defending champions Willcox and Simmons in a deciding match tie-break to avenge their loss to Willcox and Simmons in last year's final. Fletcher and Fletcher added to their previous mixed doubles titles in 2007 and 2009.
View final results here.
05/05/13
Peter Willcox and Lewis Fletcher, the top two seeds, will contest the men's singles final at the National Deaf Tennis Championships for the second successive year on Monday, while former champions Bethany Brookes and Beth Simmons will meet in the women's singles title decider.
Second seed Fletcher, who won his first National title in 2012, repeated last year's semi-final victory over third seed and two-time former champion Daniel Tunstall to secure a 6-2, 7-5 victory this year at Gosling High Performance Centre. Meanwhile, ten-time National champion Willcox maintained his bid to regain the title after coming through a tough semi-final against fourth seed Jack Clifton 6-3, 6-4.
On the second day of round-robin matches in the women's singles 2005 champion Beth Simmons beat her twin sister Alex Simmons 6-2, 6-0. Brookes, the top seed and 2010 and 2011 champion also beat Alex .....
With Brookes and Beth Simmons both unbeaten on three wins apiece after their first three matches, they will now decide the title for the second time in three years, with Brookes having secured the second of her National titles when beating Simmons in straight sets in the 2011 final
With one match left to play, Fletcher and Willcox remain in pole position to retain their men's doubles title.
Fletcher and Willcox beat Ashley Dunn and Bradley Wilson 6-0, 6-0 for their second victory in two round-robin matches so far. Fletcher and Willcox face Arslaan Butt and Shaun O'Brien in their remaining match on Monday, with Butt and O'Brien having been beaten 6-1, 6-4 by Nicholas Ansell and Jack Clifton on Sunday's second day of competition. Ansell and Clifton won both their matches in straight sets on the second day to end their campaign with two wins and one loss.
With seven-time National champion Catherine Fletcher bypassing the women's singles this year and concentrating on the women's doubles and mixed doubles, she partnered Brookes to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Savannah Elliot and Alex Simmons as they began their women's double title defence. Brookes and Fletcher will now play Sophie Paul and Beth Simmons in their remaining match.
Meanwhile, Monday's mixed doubles final will be a rematch of the 2012 final between top seeds Lewis and Catherine Fletcher and second seeds Willcox and Beth Simmons.
After finishing runners-up last year, Fletcher and Fletcher kept their challenge for a third mixed doubles title on course with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over former three-time champions Tunstall and Alex Simmons.
In the other semi-final Willcox and Beth Simmons sealed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Clifton and Brookes.
View Monday's order of play here.
View all draws and results here.
04/05/13
All four seeds reached the men's singles semi-finals on the first day of the 2013 National Deaf Tennis Championships, while the mixed doubles semi-finalists were also decided along with the opening round-robin matches in the women's singles and doubles and the men's doubles.
The day started with the closest of the matches as Yorkshire's Arslaan Butt edged out Surrey's Nicholas Ansell 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to earn one of the two available quarter-finals berths, but Butt provided few problems for second seed and defending champion Lewis Fletcher, who advanced to the last four 6-1, 6-0.
Wiltshire's Fletcher joined top seed and 2012 runner-up Peter Willcox and fourth seed Jack Clifton in dropping just one game in their quarter-finals matches. Willcox beat Liverpool's Shaun O'Brien 6-1, 6-0, while Clifton eased past Bradley Wilson 6-0, 6-1, with the two Surrey-based players now set to meet for a place in the final.
Two-time former champion and third seed Daniel Tunstall secured a 6-2, 6-0 win over fellow Deaflympian Nick Beese to earn a semi-final against Fletcher.
The five-way round-robin heat for the women's singles opened with victories for Oxfordshire twins Alex and Beth Simmons and Surrey's 2010 and 2011 champion Bethany Brookes.
Top seed Brookes beat Yorkshire's Sophie Paul 6-1, 6-0, while former champion and second seed Beth Simmons also beat both Paul and Savannah Elliot 6-0, 6-0. Alex Simmons defeated Elliot 6-1, 6-1. Alex and Beth Simmons will be among the players to go head-to-head on Sunday's second day of matches.
The men's doubles began with round-robin wins for Fletcher and Willcox and Butt and O'Brien. Defending champions Fletcher and Willcox beat Ansell and Clifton 6-2, 6-2, while Butt and O'Brien defeated Ashley Dunn and Wilson 6-2, 6-3.
There was a thrilling start to the women's doubles as Paul and Beth Simmons clinched a deciding match tie-break against Elliot and Alex Simmons, prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 10-7. Defending champions Catherine Fletcher and Brookes play the first of their two matches against Elliot and Alex Simmons on Sunday.
View Sunday's order of play here.
View all draws and results here.
03/05/13
View Saturday's order of play here.
View the men's draw here.
View the women's draw here.
02/05/13
Four former men's singles champions and three former women's singles champions are among a field of 18 players for the 2013 National Deaf Tennis Championships, which takes place at Gosling High Performance Centre, Welwyn Garden City from 4-6 May.
Organised by the Tennis Foundation, the National Deaf Tennis Championships is the domestic highlight on the deaf tennis calendar and gives experienced and up-and-coming players the chance to compete side-by-side. Players will compete for honours in men's and women's singles and doubles, mixed doubles and in a junior event.
This year's championships will also see members of the National Deaf Tennis Squad aiming to put in eye-catching performances ahead of selection for the Great Britain team for the 22nd Summer Deaflympics, which takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 26 July to 4 August 2013.
Husband and wife Lewis and Catherine Fletcher secured a National Championships doubles in 2012, winning the men's and women's singles, before also going on to claim the men's and women's doubles titles with their respective doubles partners and partnering each other in the final of the mixed doubles.
Lewis Fletcher won his first men's singles National Championships title in 2012, beating ten-time champion and top seed Peter Willcox in the final and both players are amongst this year's star-studded field, alongside four-time former champion Sidney Falconer and two-time champion and Deaflympic medallist Daniel Tunstall.
Catherine Fletcher, also a two-time Deaflympic medallist, was announced this week as the new Great Britain Deaf Tennis Coach. Fletcher returned to the National Championships in 2012 to win her seventh women's singles title after beating 2010 and 2011 champion Bethany Brookes in a three set final. Beth Simmons, the women's singles champion in 2005, is also among a strong entry again this year, alongside her twin sister Alex, who was a Deaflympic bronze medallist in the mixed doubles with Tunstall at the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne.
Brookes is among a number of Surrey-based players competing again at this year's event and arrives at this year's National Championships on the back of winning two medals at last year's European Championships, where she won gold in the junior girls' singles and silver alongside Catherine Fletcher in the women's doubles.
While Lewis and Catherine Fletcher won bronze in the mixed doubles at the 2012 European Championships, Sophie Paul and Jack Clifton were also gold and silver medallists in the junior mixed doubles and junior boy's singles respectively and both players will take on their elder counterparts in the men's and women's singles.
On Saturday, 4 May, the first day of the 2012 National Deaf Tennis Championships, the Tennis Foundation is hosting a Junior Deaf Tennis Day, with coaching in the morning led by Gosling High Performance Centre's Philip Martin, assisted by former Deaflympian Nick Beese, a three-time National men's doubles champion, who also returns to play in this year's National Championships.
"Gosling High Performance has proved to be a popular home for the National Deaf Tennis Championships in recent years and we delighted to again have the country's best deaf tennis players not just playing for National titles, but for places in the Great Britain squad for the upcoming Deaflympics," said Tournament Director Ali Barker. "Alongside this we have exciting opportunities for younger developing players as the Tennis Foundation continues its drive to increase the number of deaf tennis players across the country. "