Paul Ryb, Jan Reynolds and Kelly Cronin all successfully defended their singles titles at the National Visually Impaired Tennis Championships held at the National Tennis Centre, Roehampton on 5-6th October.
Having been given a bye in the first round, Ryb made faultless progress to the B2, B3 and B4 men's singles final, not dropping a game. He carried his form through to the final where he defeated Christopher Baily 6-3 to claim the trophy.
In the women's B2, B3 and B4 draw defending champion Jan Reynolds was also in dominant form throughout the tournament, not dropping a game on route to the title. Having been given a bye in the first round, she breezed past qualifiers Raina Haig and Minerva Ainsworth, fourth seed Rosie Pybus and then comfortably beat 2012 Champion Odette Battarel 6-0 in the final.
Kelly Cronin topped off a successful weekend for defending champions by retaining her B1 singles final for blind players, defeating Nikhil Nair in a closely fought match, 4-3 (5).
Baily overcame the disappointment of losing his singles final by taking the men's doubles title with Matthew Page. After a bye in the first round the pair dropped just one game on their way to the final where they defeated David Samuels and Aemon Shearing 4-2.
There was further success for Page when he partnered Georgina Robbins to victory in the VI and Sighted mixed doubles event. Having come through a tight quarter-final 10-8 against Andy Crocket and Amanda Green, and an ever tighter semi-final 11-9 against Christopher and Anita Baily, Page and Robbins took the title with a 10-4 victory over Graeme Manwell and Wendy Glasper.
In one of the closest matches of the tournament, David Deas and Christine Laurence clinched the B2, B3 and B4 mixed doubles title with a 10-9 win over Jim and Gill Currie.
Meanwhile, in the women's doubles Ainsworth and Brenda Cassell made up for their quarter-final and semi-final singles defeats by winning the doubles title. After comfortably beating Jan Reynolds and Joanna Turnbull 4-0 in their semi-final, Ainsworth and Cassell defeated Battarel and Amanda Green 4-1.
Players in the B1 category are completely blind or compete with eyeshields while B2-B4 includes partially sighted players.