12/09/14
Players from Scotland won three of the four men’s singles gold medals at the fourth of the Tennis Foundation’s four regional learning disability tennis tournaments organised for 2014, while Laura Campbell and Laura Wells ensured that both women’s singles gold medals went back to York.
Nathan Haddow and Gordon Taylor helped make it a successful weekend for players from the host city as the two Glasgow players won gold in the men’s Division 2 singles and Division 3 singles.
Haddow was unbeaten in Division 2, dropping a total of just four games in his three round-robin matches. The silver medal was decided in much closer circumstances as Glasgow’s Garry Hamilton, Nottingham’s Peter Norton and Plymouth’s James Jennings all finished with one win apiece. However, it was Norton that edged out Hamilton for the silver medal after having a better overall percentage of games won against games played.
Taylor maintained a 100 per cent record to win the Division 3 gold medal after dropping just four games in his three matches. The most games Taylor lost in any one match was two, securing a 6-2 victory over fellow Glasgow athlete and silver medallist Gregor Boyd.
Prestwick’s Dominic Iannotti also clinched gold in the men’s Division 1 singles for the loss of just one game, while Alex Hopkinson ensured that one of the men’s singles gold medals would return to England after the Nottingham player clinched all three of his Division 4 round-robin matches.
Campbell and Wells both dominated their respective women’s singles groups, Campbell dropping just a game apiece to Lauren Waddell and Lucy Porteous, her two Scottish opponents from the Boders.to claimed the Division 1 gold medal. Wells won the Division 2 gold medal for the loss of just three games across her two matches, beating silver medallist and fellow York athlete Emma Lindsay 6-2, while Lindsay edged out Prestwick’s Frances Smiley 6-4 to secure the silver medal.
After finishing behind Ianotti in the men’s Division 1 singles Glasgow’s Ronan Cacace and Kinross’s Oliver Hill paired up with to fine effect to win the Division 1 doubles gold medal, losing just three games en route to winning all three of their matches, while Jennings and Swansea’s Joshua Kerr beat Haddow and Hamilton 6-3 to claim the silver medal.
Taylor clinched his second gold medal of the weekend in the mixed doubles after partnering Waddell to win both of their Division 1 matches, with Glasgow’s Stephen MacMillian and Campbell taking the silver medal ahead of Prestwick’s Jack Dickson and Porteous.
The mixed doubles also brought a second gold medal of the weekend for Wells, who partnered fellow York player Cameron Long to victory in the Division 2 event after two comfortable wins from their two matches, including a 6-2 win over silver medallists Hopkinson and Smiley.
The year’s enhanced programme of regional competition, which has also included tournaments in Welwyn Garden City, Nottingham and Wrexham earlier in the year, precedes and encourages players to work towards the Tennis Foundation’s 11th National Learning Disability Tennis Event, which takes place at Nottingham Tennis Centre on 31st October to 2nd November.
The entry form for the 11th National Learning Disability Tennis Event in Nottingham is available here.