This year's Avon Junior Championships saw a sharp rise in the number of entries in all age groups over the previous few years, making the tournament very competitive in singles and doubles alike.
Heavy rain delayed the start on the first day and when matches eventually got underway conditions were still damp and miserable. Despite this players managed to complete the days schedule with remakably good tennis, humour and patience. Meanwhile the 9U Mixed event was taking place in the indoor centre where some excellent matches produced the first champion of the week with Jay Darvey beating J'Quon Duvall-Richards in the final. The 8U event took place on Thursday with Aryana Bartlett winning a very close final against William Thomas 11-9.
Although the weather continued to be unpredictable throughout the week affecting both the tennis and the schedule as rain and wind hit the courts the mood stayed buoyant and the schedule on track. Fortunately Finals Day saw the best weather of the week and there were plenty of people there to enjoy the matches and the presentations.
%20James%20Vincent%20(12U)%20%20Arthur%20Yrrell%20(10U)%20%20Jay%20Darvey%20(9U)%20Champs.jpg)
The 10U Boys and Girls events were run outdoors on Friday and Saturday with Arthur Yirrell and Amy Leather, who both had good runs in the 12U events as well, winning the titles.
Winning the 12U Singles titles meant that Lucy Edwards and James Vincent qualified for the prestigeous Babolat Cup Tournament, which takes place at The Priory Club, Edgbaston on 13th/14th September. This is the first year the event has been run in this country and we look forward to hearing about Lucy and James' experiences there.
In the 14U – 18U events several seeds fell to lower rated players over the first couple of rounds with Harvey Moran and Matthew Alexander having good runs in the 16U Boys. However it was No 1 seed Gregor Bates who eventually won that title beating James Mccall in 3 sets to become 16U Boys Champion. In the 14U Boys event another No 1 seed, Joe Leather beat Callum Silkstone in the final to become Champion of that age group and in the 14U Girls event Emily Thomas became Champion beating another unseeded player, Lucy Edwards in the final. Emily was also R/U in the 16U Girls which was won by Hannah Thomas.
Callum Silkstone did not go unrewarded for his efforts in the 14U final as his sportsmanship had been evident all week and when he reported his final score the way he handled his disappointment confirmed that he was the worthy winner of the 2014 Fair Play Award.
The 18U Girls event may have only had a small entry but the final between Brodie Walker, the eventual winner and Connie Simpson proved to be high in quality and fully justified the title of Champion being awarded to Brodie. James Hardiman and Noah Pring also provided a great match in the Boys 18U final with James becoming the County Champion after two hard fought sets.
The weather certainly didn't deter the doubles players as friends joined forces to provide the biggest doubles draws for years. The two 18U Boys Singles finalists James Hardiman & Noah Pring joined forces to win the 18U Doubles title beating Gregor Bates and Aydin Caglayan 6-3 7-5. The 14U Boys Doubles was won by Joe Leather and Ben Hatcher and the 14U Girls Doubles winners were Connie Simpson and Emily Thomas.
Avon County would like to thank the referee, Maggie Tyrrell, and all the other officials and volunteers for all their hard work and efforts throughout the week.
AVON COUNTY JUNIOR CHAMPIONS 2014:
Singles:
8U Mixed - Aryana Bartlett
9U Mixed - Jay Darvay
10U Boys - Arthur Yirrell
10U Girls - Amy Leather
12U Boys - James Vincent
12U Girls - Lucy Edwards
14U Boys - Joe Leather
14U Girls - Emily Thomas
16U Boys - Gregor Bates
16U Girls - Hannah Thomas
18U Boys - James Hardiman
18U Girls - Brodie Walker
Doubles:
10U Mixed - James Vincent / Amy Leather
14U Girls - Connie Simpson / Emily Thomas
14U Boys - Ben Hatcher / Joe Leather
18U Boys - James Hardiman / Noah Pring