Deal’s Adam Brownsword and Connor Power followed up their men’s singles gold medals in Welwyn Garden City in March to finish top of the podium again in their respective events as Nottingham Tennis Centre hosted the Tennis Foundation’s second Learning Disability Regional Series tournament of 2014, with five Nottingham-based players also claiming singles gold medals.
Brownsword won a tiebreak 76(5) against Glasgow’s Nathan Haddow to clinch his men’s Division 3 singles gold medal in thrilling circumstances. It was one of three gold medals earned in tiebreaks as 47 players from across the country took to the courts in some highly competitive round-robin singles and doubles groups, each group consisting of players of like tennis ability.
Upminster’s Oliver Beadle defeated Kinross player Oliver Hill 7-6(3) to edge Hill out of gold medal position in the men’s Division 1 singles, while Warwick’s Ciaran Bevan sealed the gold medal in the Division 9 singles after his 7-6(7) win over Plymouth’s David Jones.
The Division 9 singles produced some of the closest finishes of the weekend as Bevan also earned a tense 7-5 win over Wolverhampton’s Marco Fusco, the eventual bronze medallist. Meanwhile, silver medallist Jones contested two tie-breaks, his 7-6(5) win over Fusco earning him the silver medal.
Beadle’s gold medal in the Division 1 singles saw him improve on his silver medal in Welwyn Garden City, where he finished runner-up to Nottingham’s Joseph Eccles. Eccles had to settle for the bronze medal in Nottingham.
Power’s second gold medal of the Regional Series events to date came after he won both his matches in the Division 6 singles, while Michael Goggins took a third singles gold medal back to Deal after dropping just one game in his two Division 8 singles matches.
Aiden Leighton and Steve Uttley remained unbeaten in their singles matches as the Nottingham duo won the men’s Division 5 and Division 10 gold medals. Peter Norton finished his three Division 4 matches with two wins, the same record as Worcestershire’s Neil Samuels, but Norton gained the gold medal courtesy of his 7-5 win Samuels when they played each other.
A fourth gold medal for a Nottingham player was also won in a tense finish to Division 11, with all three players completing their matches with one win apiece. Ultimately Alex Hopkinson ended the event on top of the podium after having a better percentage of games won against games lost compared to that of silver medallist Damon Hughes.
All three players in the Division 12 singles also all gained one match win apiece, but Wrexham’s Stephen Parry and Chris Burke took the gold and silver medals, with Parry earning the gold medal despite having lost his match against Burke 7-6(4).
With the medals winners during the weekend coming from across the length and breadth of Britain, Newquay’s Robbie Hampshaw and Gloucester’s Robert Fisher won all their matches with comfortable straight sets victories to earn the Division 2 and Division 7 gold medals.
The ladies singles brought a fifth gold medal for a Nottingham player as Katherine Ashcroft won all three of her matches in the ladies Division 2, while York’s Laura Campbell was also unbeaten in her three Division 1 singles matches to win gold. Ashcroft secured her second gold medal of the weekend in the mixed doubles as she partnered Hopkinson win their three Division 2 matches for the loss of just two games.
There was a Scottish-Welsh victory in the mixed doubles Division 1 event as Lucy Porteous partnered Darren Hambly to win both their matches.
Eccles and Hill combined to make it three wins from three matches in the men’s Division 1 doubles, while the Nottinghamshire partnerships of Luke East and Alex Eustace and Scott Brown and Aiden Leighton were unbeaten gold medallists in the men’s Division 2 and Division 3 doubles. Brothers Ciaran and Tomos Bevan dropped just one game in two matches to earn the gold medal in the men’s Division 4 doubles as Ciaran added to his men’s Division 9 singles gold medal.