01/12/13
Dalbeattie's Keith Thom and Swindon's Lynn Broughton won the men's and women's singles titles on Sunday as the Tennis Foundation National Development Series Finals came to an end at the National Tennis Centre in London, with Shahzad Afzal and Jame Brady also winning the men's doubles.
Thom, winner of the inaugural Tennis Foundation Development Series in 2011, when the accumulation of points throughout the season decided the victors, beat Surrey's Greg Shea 6-3, 6-3 in Sunday's end-of-season final, with Shea having to settle for runners-up honours at the end of his first season in the sport.
Broughton completed the women's singles unbeaten in four matches throughout the week. However, having not dropped a single game in her first three matches, she faced a tougher final round-robin match before earning a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sarah Gaisford.
The men's doubles was won by Lancashire's Shahzad Afzal and Jersey's James Brady. Afzal and Brady secured a 6-2, 6-3 win over Thom and Steve Metcalfe.
Players had qualified for the four-day event by accumulating points during the course of eight Summer Series tournaments around the country and the top three men and women in the points accumulator were recognised during the British Wheelchair Tennis Awards on Friday's second day of the British Wheelchair Tennis Championships and National Development Series Finals.
Karl Ives finished top of the men's points accumulator after earning points in five of the eight Sumer Series events, including winning the tournament at Gosling High Performance Centre in Welwyn Garden City. Steve Crompton, winner of the points accumulator in 2012, gained points at four out of eight tournaments, including finishing runner-up in Taunton and finishing third in the tournaments at Welwyn Garden City and Canterbury in Kent.
Afzal finished the Summer Series events in third place in the men's points standings after victory at the Leeds tournament and gaining additional points in Gloucester and Shrewsbury. Afzal has subsequently won his second Development Series event of the year after victory in Ilkley, one of the first events on the Winter Series 2013-2014 calendar.
Val Fisher was the top women's player in the points accumulator. Fisher was runner-up in tournaments in Leeds, Gloucester and at her home tournament, the Shrewsbury Open, while second placed Debbie Brazier won the tournament at Oxstalls Tennis Centre, Gloucester and was a quarter-finalist in Shrewsbury. Third place went to Helen Bond, the winner of the Development Series women's even in 2012. Bond finished third in Gloucester, fourth in Leeds and also picked up points in Shrewsbury.
30/11/13
Surrey's Greg Shea beat Lancashire's Shazad Afzal in their deciding Group A round-robin match on the third day of the National Development Series Finals to reach Sunday's men's singles final against Scot Keith Thom.
Having been taken to three sets in his second group match Shea was on top form against Afzal, who was also previously unbeaten in two matches, with Shea recording a comprehensive 6-0, 6-0 victory.
Marc Francis finished third in the group after a 4-1, 4-2 win over Dave Berridge.
With Thom having already finished unbeaten in four matches at the top of Group B, Saturday's penultimate day of play at the National Tennis Centre saw the remaining Group B matches played out to decide who would finish second in the group. It was an exciting day that saw three players end the group competition on two wins apiece.
Steve Metcalfe won the most thrilling match of the day to beat Pat Seaward 5-3, 4-5(4), [1-0](1), but still finished fourth in Group B behind Seaward and James Brady, who both beat Craig Nicholson in their final round-robin matches.
Brady beat Nicholson 4-1, 4-1, while Seaward beat Nicholson 4-1, 4-0, but Brady snatched second place due to having a better ratio of games and sets won to those lost during his four matches.
Lynn Broughton maintained her unbeaten record for the week in the women's singles, defeating Sonia Hooper 6-0, 6-0 as the second set of women's round-robin matches got underway. Sarah Gaisford also beat Hooper6-3, 6-4 and the women's singles will now conclude with Broughton playing Gaisford.
The National Development Series Finals will end on Sunday afternoon with Metcalfe and Thom playing Afzal and Brady in the men's doubles final.
29/11/13
There were some thrilling finishes in both the men's and women's singles round-robin matches on the second day of the National Development Series finals, while the men's doubles finalists were also decided.
In Group A of the men's singles Shahzad Afzal and Greg Shea and will meet on Saturday afternoon to decide the winner of their group after both making it two wins from two matches.
Shea made a fine comeback after a slow start to edge his second match of the week, defeating Marc Francis 2-4, 4-1, [1-0](8). Afzal had a much more comfortable win, beating Dave Berridge 4-2, 4-2 and now has two straight sets wins in successive days.
Scot Keith Thom finished his four round-robin matches in Group B unbeaten after two more straight sets wins on the second day of the event. Thom came through a tough match against Steve Metcalfe 4-1, 5-3, having previously beaten Craig Nicholson 4-0, 4-1.
Three other players go into Saturday's third day on one win apiece after Pat Seaward came from a set down to defeat Jersey's James Brady. Seaward eventually prevailed 2-4, 4-0, [0-1](5) and he, Metcalfe and Brady are now on one win each. Seaward will now play Metcalfe and Nicholson on Saturday, while Brady will also play Nicholson.
There was also tremendous climax to the first set of round-robin matches in the women's singles as Sarah Gaisford edged out Sonia Hooper 4-2, 1-4, (1-0)(9) in a deciding championship tie-break. Gaisford, Hooper and the previously unbeaten Lynn Broughton will now play each other again as the quest to decide the eventual winner of the event continues.
The two seeded partnerships also advanced with relative east to the men's doubles final.
Top seeds Metcalfe and Thom earned a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 victory over Berridge and Nicholson. Meanwhile, Second seeds Afzal and Brady also recorded a straight sets semi-finals win, defeating Francis and Seaward 6-3, 6-2.
28/11/2013
Surrey's Greg Shea and Lancashire's Shahzad Afzal both made winning starts to their round-robin matches in Group A of the men's singles in the National Development Series Finals.
Shea, winner of the Kent Development Series tournament earlier this year, beat Somerset's Dave Berridge 4-1, 4-1.
Afzal, who won the Leeds Development Series event, defeated Marc Francis 4-2, 4-1. Shea will now face Francis and Afzal will play Berridge on Friday's second day of play.
In Group 1 of the men's singles, Scotland's Keith Thom, the 2011 winner of the Development Series, won both his matches on the opening day of play. Thom secured a 4-1, 4-1 win over Pat Seward and later in the day came through a tougher challenge before eventually defeating Jersey's James Brady 4-1, 5-3.
However, Brady started the day with a win after beating Steve Metcalfe 4-1, 4-1. Metcalfe, runner-up to Thom in the Development Series points accumulator in 2011, finished the day on one win apiece with Brady after a 4-0, 4-0 win over Shropshire's Craig Nicholson.
Lynn Broughton starred on the opening day of the women's singles, winning both her round-robin matches and cannot now be caught in the event. Broughton beat Sarah Gaisford and Sonia Hooper 4-0, 4-0, with Gaisford and Hooper now set to meet on Friday.
27/11/2013
In the Tennis Foundation National Development Series Finals, the men's singles event will begin as a round-robin competition with the players divided into two pools, while the women's singles will also be decided in a round-robin competition with one group all playing each other twice.
22/11/2013
Alongside the British Championships the inaugural Tennis Foundation National Development Series Finals will be contested by developing players who earned their qualification by accumulating points in the eight Summer Series tournaments held across the country between April and August this year.
They will include Keith Thom and Steve Metcalfe (pictured), who were first and second in the inaugural Development Series in 2012, which was then a straight points race across the season. This is the first time that players have had to qualify for a National Finals event and the entries will also include Shahzad Afzal, who has won two Development Series tournaments this year.